The Eighth Contestant
by taovkool
Summary: 4 months prior to his meeting with Index. Kamijou Touma was unwittingly thrown into another world and was forced to fight in the Holy Grail War due to the schemes of a certain General Superintendent and a certain Sorcerer called Kaleidoscope. How will his existence and his right hand affect the Holy Grail War?
1. Prelude to a War

**Another Crisis Led By His Misfortune. _Prelude to a War._**

* * *

"Let me be clear on one thing, Senpai." Kamijou spoke while sighing to the person on the next receiving end of his phone.

He sat in a family restaurant with his usual school uniform and ordered a set of french fries from a smiling waitress. Meanwhile he kept his phone into his ear, looking absolutely famished and irritated.

'And what would that be?' A female voice can be heard passing through the phone. If he could see her face at this point, then he could easily imagined her to be smiling flirtatiously like she always has

"I really hate 'cloak and dagger'-ing like this." He grunted.

'Oh, I'm sure. But at this case, I'm afraid we can only rely on you. Or more specifically-"

"My right hand. Yes, yes, I know. Why else am I here?" He sighed another time. " But... is this really the place?"

'Yes, Fuyuki City."

"The place where several mysterious disappearances of hundreds of people, some theoretical secret battle tournament and several unknown cover-up attempts of several incidents related to some deep underground esper organization?"

'Pretty much.'

Kamijou furrowed his brows, hearing his boisterous senpai's confident reply. He took another glance into his surrounding and spoke into the phone.

"This peaceful, quiet and serene neighborhood doesn't seem like that kind of place."

'Which is why it's perfect. You do realize that peaceful scenery is the perfect cover stage for whatever is going on inside that city.'

"I still find it hard to believe what you said about people with unnatural esper-like abilities subtly appearing in this city. This isn't Academy City, you know."

'That is precisely the problem.' Kamijou twitched a little, the usually playful senpai has changed to an all-business attitude. Whatever she's saying, it's serious. 'If there are people like that outside Academy City, then who knows what kind of problem they could be causing. And through classified sources, there are reports of various groups within this organization fighting each other, and bystanders are getting caught in the middle. Although, they tend to be very cooperative between themselves to cover these incidents up. We don't know their motives regarding these fights, but for you this is enough for a reason, right?'

"Alright, that is problem enough." Kamijou nodded calmly.

And a second later he yelled into the phone.

"THAT DOESN'T FREAKIN' EXPLAIN WHY A COUPLE OF MAN WITH BLACK MILITARY SUIT THREW A KNOCKOUT GAS GRENADE FROM THE WINDOW WHEN I WAS COOKING AND PUT ME INTO THE BORDER OF THE CITY WHEN I HAVEN'T EVEN FINISHED COOKING DINNER YET!"

'Ara? How do you know your room is on fire?'

"It's because you can't turn the stove off like normal. There's a special way to turn it off. You see, the cable pin underneath the kitchen had to be switched- WAIT, MY ROOM IS WHAT?!"

'It was on fire. Don't worry the firefighters already put out the flames hours ago.'

"WHAT ABOUT MY ROOM?! MY STUFF! MY MANGAS! MY LIFE SAVINGS! MY HOMEWORKS! ALL OF THEM IS THERE!

'If you've seen how big the flame is, you are going to abandon any naïve hope that you have any stuff left untouched in there.'

"NOOOOOOOOOOO! FUKOUUUUUUU DAAAAAAA!" Kamijou Touma pitifully wailed, surprising the waitress and other customers inside the restaurant.

'There, there.' Said the senpai, sounded almost sincere... well, almost...

'That's why you should take some days off outside the City while the higher-ups work to fix your room. Why don't you finish this job like a good honor student as a compensation for the repair cost?'

"LIKE HELL! THEY'RE THE ONE THAT GOT IT ON FIRE AND THEY WANT TO BE COMPENSATED?! WHO AM I? STUPID?!

'Of course, you're free to return. But I imagine you'd find nothing even left on your dorm room. And accidents happen a lot lately, you know. A hunter might have mistaken you for a deer and shot you right in the head in the middle of the urban jungle~'

"URBAN JUNGLE?! A HEADSHOT?! HOW CAN A HUNTER MISTAKE A DEER TO A MAN WHEN HE CAN CLEARLY SEE HIS FACE?! IS THERE EVEN A HUNTER OR A DEER IN THE CITY?! THAT'S JUST TWISTED! THAT'S AN ABSOLUTELY TWISTED WAY OF TURNING HELPFUL WARNING HINTS FOR HIKING INTO A VERY VIABLE DEATH THREAT! FUKOU DAAAAA!"

' So~? What's your respond going to be, Kamijou-kun~?'

"...I'll do whatever you say, ma'am." Kamijou said while crying, finally surrendered to his fate.

'Good, now that's my cute kouhai~ tell you what, since Kamijou-kun is such a helpful boy, ask anything you want to this gorgeous senpai of yours~!'

"Why me? Why is it always me?" Kamijou lifelessly asked, almost like he was asking to God who had given him such a fate. "Surely there's someone else in Academy City that is more suited for this. Shouldn't there be a branch in Anti-Skill that handle this types of trouble?"

'There is. Although, rather than Anti-Skill, it's more of a group of classified high-leveled espers that can easily topple governments. Something like this should be easy for them."

Then why don't they just send them here then? Kamijou thought deep within his heart. But he refrained from speaking it out loud because he knew these types of espers generally don't pay any attention to other human lives. Sending them here could easily caused needless life to flew by, but that doesn't mean that the single boy named Kamijou Touma is confident enough to say that he can solve such a huge problem easily. The opponent is some big shot organization after all.

'I also thought those people really are more suited for the job.' His senpai seemed to have guessed what he was thinking because she sighed and said that half-heartedly. 'But I can't help it. I know this sounds ridiculous, but based from my sources, it seems like the General Superintendent himself was the one behind your assignment to this.'

"Wait, the General Superintendent?! He got me into this? I don't even know who he is! Heck, I don't even know if he is a HE! And what's with this 'assignment' stuff? I'm not some badass black-ops secret agent! I'm not even getting paid for this! Fukou da!" Kamijou screamed out, understandably feeling pissed off.

'Well, whatever. Just do your usual hero thingie and save the day~!'

"Again, this isn't Academy City. There is no day in need of saving here. This is just a normal everyday city where nothing abnormal like a sudden huge explosion from an esper battle will ever happen!"

BOOM!

"..."

Oi, oi, oi.

Just how bad is his luck exactly? This has been nothing but bad luck these past few days.

'Let me guess, a sudden huge explosion? Better move it, Hero, that church is only a few blocks away.'

"Do me a favor and stop stalking me with your satellite camera!"

* * *

With a rather violent click sound, the boy on the other side of her phone hanged up. Leaving her in her room with a laptop showing a screen of a burning church from a bird-eye view and two other men.

A boy with a hawaiian T-shirt and an older man with a formal business suit.

"Was it really necessary to lie like that to him, Tsuchimikado?" She asked. Losing her gentle and playful tone, replacing it was a stern and angry one.

"Nya, of course. As far as I know only Kami-yan can do it."

"If this is about the matter of the other side, then it's pointless, Kamijou Touma doesn't have any knowledge of it." She went silent for a while and then sighed. "For now at least."

"Rather than that, I am more curious with this entire ruse." The man in suit finally spoke up. "As far as I'm concerned, there are no such incidents in Fuyuki City, no mysterious disappearance, no 'outside espers' movements, no nothing. Like Kamijou Touma had said, there is nothing like that in that city. Not until that explosion at least. Is there something that warrants an outside force to draw our attention now?"

"No, you're wrong director." The beauty senpai, Kumokawa Seria, pointed out. Her superior raised his brow curiously. "I think the explosion is not from an outside force. This guy grinning ear to ear might be able to explain."

"What?" Said the director, confused.

Meanwhile, the smiling bastard that was Tsuchimikado Motoharu put up his frivolous air and said nothing but a smirk. Kumokawa Seria smiled, with a hidden irritation visible on her fist-formed hand.

"Tsuchimikado-kun, would you mind to explain why you blew up a church to draw Kamijou-kun's attention? What do you want him to see in that place?"

"Tell me, Kumokawa-senpai." Tsuchimikado said after a pause, not losing his frivolous air and smile. "What do you know about the Holy Grail?"

* * *

"This has got to be the most unluckiest day ever!" the aforementioned Kamijou Touma ran into the direction of the roaring flames that engulfed an entire church.

Soon he arrived into the scene of the church where a crowd from the nearby neighbourhood was already gathered, keeping their distance from the burning building.

"A fire in the church?"

"Is there anyone inside?"

"Someone call the fire station!"

Such murmurs were heard from the concerned neighbors as they watched the building set aflame. They were likely asleep several minutes ago before they were forcefully woken up by the fire, as most of them are still wearing their sleeping attire.

Kamijou Touma who had just arrived on scene clicked his tongue when he realized just how his bad luck has turned to worse.

_Gotta get this people out of here or they'll be caught in the crossfire of whatever crazy thing is going on inside that church!_

It was then that his train of thought was stopped when he realized the phone in his pocket was vibrating, he hurriedly accepted the call after he'd seen the display name.

'If you want to evacuate them then don't bother.' Came the sound of the senpai he knew, guessing his intent perfectly well.

"Are you suggesting I should just leave them there where they could get wrapped up in this out of ordinary situation and robbed them of their everyday life? You know that is something I could never do." Kamijou said sternly.

'That bravado of yours is cute, as usual, but I'd advice strongly against it, because it's just a waste of time.' She warned. 'Think Kamijou-kun, if the culprit behind the explosion was smart enough to conceal their outrageous activities from the eyes of the world, then they won't be doing something so stupid like harming a mass of crowd where _a satellite from Academy City is focusing its sight over there_."

"Ah!" Kamijou exclaimed as he processed that piece of logic.

'If you understand, then just hurry up and get over there! Whatever's going on inside that church won't spread into the outside, just be careful not to get yourself burned down together with the church.'

"Alright. I got it." Kamijou nodded reluctantly.

'One more thing, there's an alley to the left with a backdoor leading to the cellar of the church. With that, you can get into the church without drawing too much attention from the crowd. Remember, this isn't Academy City, cleaning up after an esper's mess outside of the city isn't as easy as cleaning it up inside.'

"Then don't get me involved with this kind of thing in the first place, damn it!" Kamijou quickly hanged up the phone and ran.

Sadly, even after having so many dealings with his troublesome senpai, he still forgotten that Kumokawa Seria was a genius with a mastery of deceit and lies. He hadn't thought that any organization skilled enough to conceal their presence while still doing their controversial activities won't make any unnecessary risk like drawing attention to themselves by blowing up a church in a middle of a crowded residential areas.

Well... being blackmailed by a beautiful senpai or a gas grenade between his dinner dishes or a fight to the death might be a terrible turn of event that most people would have a trauma over but this _IS_ Kamijou Touma we're talking about. For Kamijou Touma, who is currently crying to fate, it was just another ordinary day.

Correction: it was just another 'unlucky' ordinary day.

Further correction: It was the most unlucky and extraordinary day he will ever have...

...At least for the next 4 months.

In July 19th and 20th, his encounter with the number 3 Level 5 and a girl with 103.000 grimoire will lead to a permanent amnesia and a series of misadventures that will engulf the world on the brink of a World War.

But that is another story altogether.

The date is March 9th.

This is the day where Kamijou Touma met an old man with gleaming red eyes and a weird looking stick inside a burning church.

And, unsurprisingly, he soon found himself screaming 'Fukouuuuuuuuuuuuuu Daaaaaaaaaaaaa!' as he was thrown mercilessly into another world along with a Panzer tank, a merry-go-round and dozens of teddy bears.

And most importantly,

This is the day when the story of Kamijou Touma and the Holy Grail War starts.

* * *

**A/N:**

**A new idea for a crossover story between Fate/stay night and To aru finally came up!**

**It all stemmed up from a line I coincidentally read from Toaru Majutsu no Index Volume 1 about Kamijou and Komoe-sensei's love call, and I quote: _'Well, I guess I'm getting off easy if a single week will wrap up everything I missed in the four months' worth of class I skipped this term, Kamijou thought.'_**

**See? A blank four months...**

**For me the character of Kamijou Touma is not the type to just skip out of school like a delinquent without a good reason (although if delinquents are people that are constantly getting caught into fights, then Touma definitely counts as one). So there must be something that caught him up. Maybe the usual damsel in distress or another bad guys with their evil or not-so-evil-but-not-good-either plots. Meh, who knows? Guessing the canon of stories made by Kamachi-sensei is hard as hell.**

**So, I decided to create my own version of what happened in that four months! And since I were hooked with the Fate series and Nasuverse after watching Fate/Zero, my thought was: "What the heck, I'll just try it out!"**

**Oh, and one more thing. Don't expect any updates soon. This is just an idea for a background story I came up. A side project if you will. There is a plot in mind, but it's still not concrete and full of holes.**

**So... yeah. No updates.**

** I do have the second chapter in draft. I'll post it soon but there will be no updates after that. Maybe after I finish my other projects, I'll get my ass working on this one. That is still a long way though.**

**Still, a scene between Touma and Shirou or Touma and Archer fighting over their broken ideals... ****Holy crap man, that is gonna be awesome. There is also that super amnesia Touma will have 4 months after this. Wouldn't it be fun if he faced the people he saved in the Holy Grail War after he lost all of his memory of the event? Imagine the drama people!**

**Please review to let me know what you think of this. If there's not enough response, I'll just scrap the idea be done with it. So if you want me to continue, Review please.**

**Nah! Just joking! No way I'll scrap this fanfic! It has too much potential to mess up and screw over. Well, some reviews would be nice so please give me your support.**

**Ciao then. **


	2. A Glance into Despair, Show (No) Mercy

**The Visit to Heaven and Hell that Guarantees Misfortune. _A Glance into Despair, Show (No) Mercy._**

* * *

He failed.

He failed.

He was nothing but a failure.

He failed to save her. He failed to bring peace to the world. He failed to stop the tainted grail. He failed to be a hero. He failed to save anyone.

He failed to save anyone.

He failed.

The dream he had.

The promise he made with her.

Every single person he killed.

Every single person he hurt.

Every despicable thing he ever did.

Every single person lying dead.

Every single person swallowed in the flames.

Everyone he knows.

Everyone he doesn't know.

Useless.

All of it was useless.

In the end all of it was useless.

All because he failed.

Even the life he had now is useless.

So why is he still walking?

Why won't he just drop and die alongside the other innocents he killed?

He doesn't know.

He doesn't want to know.

He doesn't want to know the reality.

So he stopped.

He stopped looking.

He stopped resisting.

He stopped thinking.

He stopped fighting.

It's all useless anyway. So why bother?

And he walks.

Staggeringly.

Aimlessly.

With no purpose in mind and no goals in sight.

He walks.

With an empty gaze and a broken will.

He walks.

With no emotions but regret and despair.

He walks.

So...

He walks.

He walks.

He walks.

He walks.

He walks.

He walks as if he was looking for a salvation he knows he will never get.

* * *

**(Kamijou Touma) (Fuyuki Catholic Church)**

"This is a bad idea." Kamijou Touma told himself amidst his cough with the smell of burning ashes and smoke.

Apparently, the genius and lovely senpai, Kumokawa Seria, has forgotten to mention how bad the fire really is. And there is also the marvelous fact that the entire place is collapsing on top of his head, Kamijou couldn't feel happier with how his evening turned out.

Oh, yes. From a lovely sashimi dinner to surviving a fire inside a burning church. What a wonderful change of plan!

Speaking of which, why is he even doing this? Sure, he wouldn't mind going inside a burning church if someone was in danger. But there's no proof that anyone was even in this church. So why is he doing this?

"Whoa!"

Just in time, Kamijou dodged a falling debris from the side as a part of the walls collapsed right next to him.

"That was close... again." In his mind, he recalled the several close calls ever since he entered the church.

A sudden burst of flame once he opened a door almost burned down his face had he been a second slower in reflex, He had only take 10 steps inside and yet the floor suddenly broke down and gravity brought him into the basement, the door out of said basement was locked and he had to find the key while suffocating from the smoke from the rapidly growing fire, and numerous other misfortunes. It took all of his willpower to get where he is now with his battered and worn down body.

"This... should be it." Kamijou Touma grimaced.

Kumokawa Seria had told him to go into the main chapel of the church. Normally, judging from the interior of the church when he saw it outside, it would have been a short trip from the backdoor into the main chapel. But his luck had apparently gotten worse and he spent half an hour just trying to escape the death trap fate has in store for him.

And, if the signs next to the door was any indication, in front of him lies the main chapel of Fuyuki Church.

"This is seriously a bad idea." He shuddered in thought as he wondered what fate will have in store for him next.

Trying hard not to panic, he quickly opened the door that led him into the main chapel of the church.

And...

"Huh?"

Kamijou Touma stepped into a vast grassland.

The warm sun bathed the field with morning light. A breeze of wind peacefully swept the day. Flowers and plants that were growing wildly across the field gave a sense of beauty, serene, and harmony. A river with bright pure blue water flowed peacefully. Setting it as a tourist hotspot or a national park would be a perfect money making plan but the environmentalists will definitely fought tooth and nails.

Not that much of it mattered to the utterly shocked and jaw dropped Kamijou Touma.

". . . What the heck . . . ?"

He was in a church, right? So what is he doing on a beautiful garden like this? Did he step into the wrong room? Yes, that must be it.

Kamijou Touma instinctively turned back into the door and...

"..."

...found that the door was gone.

"Ahaha... this must be some kind of a dream or an illusion maybe. Of course, of course. This Kamijou-san probably passed out because of suffocating or exhaustion and... I might be... might be..."

Kamijou processed the following information in his head.

- - Walked into a burning church,

- - Ran into various misfortunes and near death experiences,

- - Opened a door,

- - Ended up in a strange but beautiful garden.

:: Speculations: "The garden is an afterlife."

:: Conclusion: "I am dead."

. . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . .

"FUKOOOOOOUUUUUUUUUUU DAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

"Young man, what are you doing screaming like that?"

"Why am I screaming? It's because I'm dead! Now that I think of it, why am I dead?! And what is this place? Is this the Garden of Eden that Christians refer to as their heaven!? Then again, why am I in a Christian's heaven? Is it because I died in a church?! Wow, the system of afterlife really is flexible!"

"Given how you blabber your thoughts so freely and offhandedly ignored me, I'd guess you were in a catatonic state of panic. What an amusing young man."

"This is really unlucky... To think I suddenly died and went to heaven... this is really, really unlucky! ...B-but if it is... s-should I say 'Fukou da' like usual...? ...Darn it! I want to say it! I really want to say it! I'm very tempted to say it but I get the feeling that saying it after being sent to heaven will only invite God's wrath and bring more misfortunes to my afterlife!"

"...Hey, kid."

"I knew doing good deeds would give you something! ...Then again, a lot of those religious preacher in District 12 never mentioned something as fuddling as afterlife. Are they trying to avoid lawsuit by any chance?"

"...Now, you're just blatantly ignoring me. I love pranks and hilariously awkward situations but I don't like being subjected into one, even if it was unintentional."

"Huh? Who are you!?"

The panicking Kamijou Touma that had hilariously presumed himself dead finally snapped out of his mediocre trance and turned a startled look into the mysterious newcomer.

He was a bearded old man with a strange red eyes and an aura of mischief that subtly reminded Kamijou of Tsuchimikado Motoharu.

"Now, now, boy. While I'm flattered that you thought my garden to be so grandiose, I think you owe me an apology. Ignoring me like that is just very rude. Amusing, yes. But not for me."

"Umm... yes, I'm sorry... wait, what? You own this place!?"

"Why yes of course! How do you think?"

"Then... you're God!?"

"Yes! I am Swei... what?"

"...You're God, aren't you? I mean... you own this place, so you must be God... right?"

"..."

It seemed Kamijou had the wrong preconception on who the man is as the old man himself was stunned by the amount of stupidity the boy in front of him showed.

Then again, his soul called to him that this was the perfect opportunity for the greatest prank in his life!

"Why yes I am! I am the immortal! The one that loomed over the worlds and beyond! I am the one that wields the power unachievable by any other beings! Bow down before me, mortal boy!"

"..."

Technically, it was not a lie. Well, the first part of being a god is. But the rest of them are true. The boy raised his brows. Probably judging the old man. Boy doesn't need to know any of that.

"Uh... right... bow."

Kamijou bowed.

"...What was that? What kind of a bow is that? I see no respect, boy!"

"Um, sorry. I know it's not right to be so disrespectful. And I know it's not the proper way of reverence. It's just that..."

"Yes?"

"...Somehow I just can't do something like that when I remember all of the misfortunes I had in my life."

"Hmm, so you had a harsh life, is it? And yet after I had you brought into Heaven you still had the gall to throw a fit at me?" the 'God' lied perfectly.

"Well, not exactly like that. I can understand harsh life and I really respect anyone that pulled through it. It's just that..."

"Yes, yes, what is it?"

"...Why do you always throw me into ridiculous situations that don't make any sense and logic in it?"

"...Pardon?"

"I mean the time when I accidentally burnt my room because of a guitar case. Or the time when I accidentally fell into the women's bath because of a mouse. Or the time when I accidentally groped Fukiyose because of a camera. Or the time when I accidentally crashed a truck into the school because of an ice cream. Or the time when I-"

"Okay, okay! Enough. I get the picture!"

_Boy got one hell of an 'accidental' life_. Was what the old man silently thought.

"I also think you're just too shifty to be a god." Kamijou added with a straight laced face.

The old man blinked.

Then he laughed.

"Ahahahahahaha! I just got one upped by a kid, didn't I?

"I'm quite experienced with people trying to mess with me. Now, where am I?"

Without elaborating further about the numerous other situations he got caught into, Kamijou decided to go straight to the point.

"Yes, how should I put it... This matter is rather hard to swallow if I don't explain carefully." The old man scratched his nose in ponder.

"You don't have to be so detailed. Just tell me the outline of what happened and straight to the point so I can finish whatever crazy thing is going on and get back to my sashimi fiesta."

"I see. It seems you have a lot going on." The old man nodded sagely. "I'll tell you the gist of it then, I'm sending you to another dimension."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"...Pardon?"

"Haha, well, you see, a rather troublesome matter is coming up and I need someone to fix it. An acquaintance of mine that owned the city you lived in told me that you are good in resolving this type of problems, so please take care of it for me."

"That doesn't explain anything! Stop using terms that made me recall my grandfather when he asked me to change a dead light bulb when I can sense that what you're asking is a million times more catastrophic!"

"You asked me to get straight to the point and now you said it doesn't explain anything. Haaa, youngsters these days."

"Stop blaming the younger generation for their lack of understanding when it's the fault of the older generation for their senile obscurity!"

"Please don't call me senile. As amusing as this conversation is, no old man likes to be called senile. Well, I'll just ignore that and get it started, shall we?"

Before Kamijou could say anything, the old man raised his staff.

And he "slashed" it into the air.

Though an unscientific description, space itself had seemingly cracked open.

From that space, a city appeared out of thin air. No, wrong. The vision of a city appeared from the result of the "slash" blocking a portion of the original background of the beautiful grassland.

It was as if he cut through an invisible flesh in the air and the wound gaped open.

Kamijou had no idea about who or what the old man is but the event has proven he's not a normal person. Which can only mean...

"A dimensional esper!?"

"Wrong! Don't compare Kisroch Zelretch Schweinorg to the product of your city!"

"I see, so you're one of people from the outside organization that managed to establish esper technology."

Kamijou recalled the (false) information he gained from the manipulative senpai and made a one sided conclusion. Meanwhile, the person in question blinked for a moment then sighed, seemingly giving up on something.

"Eeehh... yeah. Explaining from the very basic is troublesome, not to mention a waste of time. So let's just go with that. I don't care either way. Now boy, it's time for you to go!"

The old man pointed the staff at Kamijou.

"...Wha-!?"

Within a moment, Kamijou was pulled.

An invisible force was gripping him tight on the chest and pulled him straight into the "hole".

Almost instinctively, Kamijou used his right hand to brush off the force he felt on his torso. With a glass cracking sound, the invisible force dissipates and Kamijou regained his balance.

"Damn you!"

"Ho? So that's the right hand the upside-down bastard was talking about. Almost similar in concept to Alaya's magic deterioration but reacted faster and stronger. Seems troublesome."

Unlike most espers he met that looked surprised when their abilities are negated, the old man showed an amused and curious expression instead. This caused Kamijou to put himself more on guard since his sense of danger and misfortunes are going off the charts.

"You... you know about me?"

"Pretty much, yes. I don't trust him much, but I was right in asking him for help. He said he sent me a little helper and told me to set myself up inside the church. I just don't understand why he had to set up a large commotion by setting the church on fire."

"...What...?"

Kamijou Touma went blank.

For a moment, he tried to swallow the words but all he had were meaningless gulps.

Finally, he came to a conclusion.

"That... was all a setup!?"

"Hm? What are you talking about?"

"Don't joke around with me! I meant what Kumo... kawa... senpai... said..."

Who was Kumokawa Seria again? Ah yes, one of the most devious person he has ever met.

"...Oh crap."

Kamijou stopped and curses, why did he believe what that girl said blindly!? He got tricked by that senpai a million times in the past. She always provoked his sense of justice and twisted it just to get what she wanted. Most likely, the esper organization and the brutal events with innocents in danger was a twisted lie she made up.

There was this time when he ended up accompanying her to an amusement park to help her catch a criminal that had stolen her wallet but she ended up draining his funds with all the rides and stalls instead. And the most unbelievable part was that her wallet was not stolen, she just accidentally left it on her couch! Then what was the point of all that wasted time and money in the park!? It's all completely useless! His unfinished homework and food supply was crying!

"..."

Still, even after all that, Kamijou fundamentally believed that, while extremely devious, Kumokawa Seria never did anything that will directly harm others or anyone.

Even though she covered it well with a charade of arrogant elegance and a negative but mature outlook on life, Kumokawa Seria is basically a good person that Kamijou can safely rely on (...most of the time at least). That's why she would never direct him here without a good reason. Whatever it is this old man wants, it's probably important.

"Okay, old man, let's back up a bit. What is this about another dimension I've been hearing?"

"Ah, finally listening. Good. You see, there is something I've created in that dimension. Something extremely powerful."

"Something you created?" Kamijou snorted. "What is this? Some all-powerful miraculous technology that can grant any wishes?"

"To put it mildly, yes."

"Errm... what? That's not a reaction I expect."

"I'm surprised you know something about it. That director told me I had to explain everything down to the last details. It was the hard part since explaining is very annoying but now that you know what it was, you probably already know the gist of it. That'll make things faster."

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! What the hell are you talking about!?"

"?-? You said it yourself. I thought you knew about it."

"So it really is an all powerful miraculous technology that can grant any wishes? Are you kidding me!?"

"Hm? Hmm? It was just a lucky guess?" The old man tilted his head. "Well, seeing how you're so lucky, I think you'll manage even without me explaining every single detail."

"I'm very sorry but this Kamijou Touma cannot be associated with the word 'lucky' without adding 'un' in front of it! And the fact that you're not willing to explain anymore just because a slip of word even if I know next to nothing of what you're asking me already proven that 'lucky' guess was really unlucky!"

"Hey, don't be so pessimistic." The old man grinned. "I wouldn't explain everything to you either way. It's too much of a hassle either way."

"So you're just too lazy!? You shitty old man! Are you trying to calm me down or are you trying to get a punch on your face!?" Kamijou prepared his knuckles. Usually Kamijou is a polite teenager that will help an elderly cross the street but the old man has been added to the exception.

"What a pain." He sighed. "Fine, I already spent too much time here so I'll be blunt. I need you to destroy it."

"Destroy what? That staff and your face!?"

"No, although it'll be amusing to see you try, I'm running out of time. I need you..." For a moment, his humored face turned into a serious expression. Kamijou must have instinctively realized it was a rare occurrence and grimaced upon seeing it.

"...to destroy the Holy Grail."

* * *

**(?)**

The burnt field left no survivor.

Yet one boy walked alone amidst the flame.

The burnt field left no survivor.

Yet one boy walked alone amidst the corpses

The burnt field left no survivor.

Yet one boy walked alone amidst the death.

The burnt field left no survivor.

Yet one boy still has a beating heart.

The burnt field left no survivor.

Yet one boy still breathes the corrupted air.

The burnt field left no survivor.

Yet one boy still has a soul attached to his body.

The burnt field left no survivor.

Yet one boy was alive.

He was alive, yet he was not supposed to.

He was alive, yet he was scarred.

He was alive, yet he was broken.

He was alive, yet he was distorted.

He was alive, yet he did not survive.

No one survives this place.

Nobody does.

Nobody will.

* * *

**(Kamijou Touma)(Fuyuki Catholic Church)**

"Uoooooooohhhhhhh!"

"Stop it, boy! I can't chop off your hand if you keep running around!"

"That's precisely the point, you fucking bastard!"

The old man, whom Kamijou had identified as Zelretch, was flying on top of a stick with a style almost similar to a witch.

He was chasing Kamijou Touma, who was running hysterically, while flicking his fingers once in a while. Somehow, the action of flicking his fingers has mysteriously produced fireballs or lightning strikes or shards of ice or any other elemental strikes that our beloved hero has to dodge or negate.

Oh, and let's not forget that he also spat out several verbal ticks that involves the words 'unlucky', 'misfortune', 'damn old fart' and numerous others.

The entire event several minutes ago can be simply explained with the following comment...

* * *

"Hmm? You also negated the transfer magic? My, my, what a troublesome right hand. To think a Sorcery can be easily negated. I guess it's to be expected? Well, no matter. Show me your right hand boy, I'll cut it down."

"Like hell, you old fart!" Kamijou yelled and darted off.

* * *

...That was how the chase began.

"Ohohoho, it's been a long time since I had a good chase. You are really amusing to watch, boy."

"That only applies to you! You're the one sitting comfy in that stupid looking stick while I have to run around from a nut job trying to cut off my hand, you bastard!" Kamijou looked back and shouted out.

Thinking again shouting like that while running might have been a bad move, what with all the wasted breath and stamina and all, but Kamijou can't stay sane if he didn't make at least one retort against the old man.

"Hah... hah... hah..."

Kamijou Touma, being the normal ordinary teenager with the exception of his right hand, cannot run continuously like vampires that can run across the globe without breaking a sweat.

_That damn old man! Is he trying to waste my stamina!?_

"No, I'm not. I'm not that patient. The sight of you stumbling and running around is simply too much fun to watch like the American Football game in the 97's."

"What part of this is amusing?! And how the heck do you read my mind!?"

**_KRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNGGG _**. An irritating sound similar to an alarm clock suddenly rang out.

"Okay... what was that?"

Kamijou unconsciously stopped by the momentary surprise; Zelretch also stopped his flying stick and pulled a black pocket watch from his suit.

"...Tch, running out of time."

The usual interdimensional prankster let out an uncharacteristic growl and clicked his tongue in irritation. Kamijou doesn't know this, but if the higher ups from a certain Mage Association spotted this, they would have been extremely surprised by his change of demeanor.

"Alright boy, as much as I hated it, playing time is over. You are going to let me cut your right arm off or I will **Force** you to. I have to send you there. Look, I'm sorry to rob you from your ordinary life but there is just too much at stake. Your choice."

"..."

Of course, the not-so-ordinary teenager Kamijou Touma was entirely speechless as he doesn't know how to respond against such threat. It's also worthy to mention that he was also clueless to the significant fact that the infamous Kaleidoscope had said 'I'm sorry'. Something Zelretch rarely... no, scratch that, something Zelretch had NEVER said to anyone else before.

Aside from all that, one thing in particular catches his ears.

"Too much at stake? What exactly is at stake here?"

"...I can't say, but it is important."

"How is this important?"

"...Lives of millions are at stake."

"..."

Well, that was something Kamijou Touma, the high schooler who has yet to understand the significance of magic, couldn't expect to hear.

"Look boy." Zelretch sighed. "This is not my thing. Asking for help like this is completely out of the character for me. Honestly? I don't really care about the lives of the millions." That part had Kamijou twitched a little, something Zelretch easily noticed. "Now, don't take this the wrong way. I'm not a mass murderer hell bent on killing everyone in sight or someone claiming the entire world for himself like that King of Heroes. It is merely the aftereffects of seeing the ends of multiple civilizations. It wasn't pretty... but it'll happen eventually. The saying of 'All good things will come to an end' is especially true in this case."

"..."

Now this changes everything.

If there are any definitive characteristic that defines Kamijou Touma it would be his supreme unluckiness to get into world-class problems, his extremely good (or bad, depending from other perspective) luck with women, his special supernatural-negating right hand and his extreme tendencies of going out of his way to help someone in need.

And what would such a person do when he found out he realized that millions of lives are at stake?

Zelrecth asked him the question.

"What are you going to do?"

"This reeks of trouble. Something tells me this is a one way path to a road filled with ultimate level of misfortune... I really am unlucky."

"So?"

"Do you even need to ask? This isn't even a choice."

It may look like the sorcerer was forcing him to the decision, but Kamijou smiled a little after he let out an exasperated sigh.

"Let's go to this alternate dimension thing. But if you really want my help, I suggest you find a way to get me there without cutting off my right arm."

"...Are you sure? I'm not saying I can't, but it'll be less troublesome if I just cut off your arm."

"Of course I am! Who would want to get their arms cut off!?"

"I'll stitch it back. Promise."

"No."

"Fine, I'll get the stuff for the ritual." Zelretch grunted, looking like a child forced to do his homework.

"Kids are so picky these days." He complained.

* * *

**(?)**

I had a dream. But it was not all a dream.

An absolute nightmare called reality.

The sun extinguished, rayless and pathless.

The city consumed, battered and torn.

Homes were ablaze like grim fireworks torched in yellow sparks.

The people. They...

Men and women, died in anguish.

With curses cast upon them down the dust.

Set on fire in the black flame.

At first, I had wondered what happened.

So, "It" allowed me to see.

When I want to turn away, "It" forced me to see.

When I want to cry, "It" forced me to see.

When I want to shut my heart, "It" forced me to see.

And see, I did.

Four of them.

Only four, alive from tragedy.

It was terrifying.

They were terrifying.

They were alive... and yet they're not.

The darkness, they corrupt, they alter, they change.

An arrogant king mistaken as a hero.

A holy man with a corrupted soul.

A boy, not older than my own, twisted and distorted.

And...

A familiar broken man.

No.

No, I don't want this.

I don't want to see him like this!

Stop it! I don't want to see!

No.

How much longer are you going to torture me?

Why are you doing this?

I just... want to be with them.

Ilya, Kiritsugu... I'm sorry!

I'm sorry...

Kiritsugu.

Help me.

Someone... please.

Anyone.

...

...

...

Eh?

Is that... a tear in the dimension?

The Second Magic?

Then...!

...

That's not Kaleidoscope.

It's...

A boy?

...!

W-what are you doing!?

You... you're...

Destroy every glimpse of hope? Bring about my absolute despair?

Are you going to go that far? Are you going to stoop so low just to torture me!?

No.

No! Stop! Don't do this!

STOP IT!

* * *

**(Burning Fuyuki City) (Kamijou Touma)**

_"I'll let you see the result of that thing."_

Kamijou felt like he was in hell.

Indeed, just several seconds ago he was at a strange garden confronting a strange bearded man with an absurd and strange power that freely toyed around with him.

And now, before he realized it, he was on a burnt field.

Some kind of large fire had occurred. Yet, it was different from the church he had been into.

The burning flame was so thick with something vile. Unlike in the church when Kamijou was having trouble breathing and inhaling the oxygen, his primal instinct told him it's better to die than to breath in the same air as the obnoxious flame. And for once, Kamijou was having trouble disagreeing with his instinct.

The entire place had turned to ruins, like the scars of battlefields that you see in films. It was a hell where everything was literally laid waste.

And in the middle of it was Kamijou Touma, a Panzer tank, dozens of teddy bears and a merry-go-round. Apparently, the three kind of out-of-place objects were part of the ritual from Zelretch (or as Kamijou dubbed him, the shitty old man) to transport Kamijou into this world without having to cut off his arm.

The previous scene felt so unreal and somewhat ridiculous, Kamijou would have laughed if the entire current scene didn't scare the crap out of him... or if Kamijou hadn't noticed the corpses lying around in here and there.

_Shit! Just what have I gotten myself into this time!?_ Kamijou thought instead of saying it out loud since he had used his hand to cover his mouth from the stench of death.

_Damn it, what the hell happened here!? That shitty old man told me I need to save someone here. Does this mean there is someone alive out there? Wait a minute, if I take whatever he says on a face value, does that mean I really am in another dimension now!? Aaaahhhh! So unlucky!_

Seeing the chaos and devastation around him, Kamijou have never felt this horrified before. His stomach churned like something was gouging it from the inside out. Kamijou was having trouble stopping himself from puking hard.

Aside from being very scared until his face was pale white in horror, Kamijou noticed another swelling emotion welled up inside him.

He was powerless.

Kamijou doesn't know why the fire had happened or what kind of terrible tragedy had started it, but he still felt powerless for not being able to stop it when he was faced against the reality that countless remains of people were scattered around him.

He felt as if he was guilty just because he was the only one alive there and they don't.

That was when he noticed a movement somewhere on the edge of his eyes.

It came from a body that was lying down with other dead bodies.

It was small, tiny and easily unnoticed, but when Kamijou focused his eyes, he slowly recognized what it was.

_A... child? There's someone still alive!?_

Kamijou wasted no time and moved to a dash.

He ran towards the child to save him from this nightmare.

...Or at least he was about to when he saw a middle aged man had beaten him to the child and looked at the him with a very delighted face.

Seeing another survivor, Kamijou promptly stopped for a moment and heaved a sigh of relief.

_That man must be a survivor too_. Kamijou thought as he noticed his black tattered suit from a distance. _I guess I should meet up with him to figure out what happened and find more survivors._

That was when something moved.

Rather than moving, it was better to say that something was wriggling from inside the flames.

Kamijou noticed the absurdity and a bad feeling rose from his instincts. Instincts that were finely honed in the back alleys of esper-oriented neighborhood Academy City.

_What... is that...?_

Then the flames changed.

The color of the flames changed from devilish red to pure black.

This time Kamijou have an extremely bad feeling.

_...That is not good..._

Kamijou Touma doesn't know what it is but even he can tell the ominous black flames were dangerous.

And it leapt.

The flames "jumped" into the child and the man that survived the tragedy.

_Definitely not good!_

The man with tattered black clothes shifted his eyes from the boy into the incoming flames. His face changed from bewilderment to horrified in less than a second.

He instinctively hugged the boy, as if trying to protect him with whatever is left in his measly body.

It will only take a few more seconds before the fire will reach the two survivors.

During that critical moment, Kamijou heard something.

A very loud scream and pained sobs.

Someone was crying.

The man was crying.

There was no time to save the boy but there was enough time for him to run. He could have run and ditch the boy. The man could have abandon the boy and save himself.

But he didn't.

And he cried because of it.

No matter what he does, the boy will die. The man cannot accept that reality and cried.

In that split second, without hesitation Kamijou ran.

He placed himself between the survivors and the ominous black fire. Facing the malicious black flames head on.

"...!"

Seeing the back of a boy, the man looked at him in shock and surprise. He was about to yell out a warning and told him to ran.

...But it was too late.

The malicious black flame that created the tragedy swallowed the boy.

"...No!"

Still hugging the unconscious boy, the man gritted his teeth.

Numerous questions swirled through his previously empty mind such as, 'Where did that flame coming from?' 'Who was that boy?' and numerous others. But a single fact carved deep within his mind.

The mysterious boy didn't just save him, but he also saved the life of the boy he has in his embrace.

That was two lives more than he had ever saved in his life without killing others.

"Damn it!"

To think that a single unknown boy would fearlessly sacrificed his own life just to protect a failure and a dying 10 year old boy. The very thought of it disturbed his very core.

The man fell into a deeper despair.

He had saved a boy.

And yet another died protecting him and the boy.

You can't save everyone. And the boy bravely sacrificed himself for it.

He truly is an utter failure.

A failure.

A failure.

A failure.

The man froze when his senses were tingling with danger.

He looked around and saw the remnant of the scorching flames around him.

_All of them were pitch black._

Seeing the danger, the man snapped and scream.

"Goddamnit! Why!? Why do you have to include all of them!? Why won't you just take me? It's me that you want, right!? Why won't you just leave them alone and take me!?"

"Don't sign me off as dead without permission yet, old man! I didn't save you just so you can die on your own!"

"...!"

*Crack!* The sound of things breaking can be heard.

It came from the black flame in front of him.

It came from the black flame that has begun to dissipate.

The body of a boy that should have been swallowed by the malicious flames appeared from the smokes.

The man felt it himself. He felt it right inside his body. A lingering curse that slowly burns from the inside.

It was the very same corruption that made up the black flame.

The black flames were made out of the same curse inside his body. The very same curse that corrupted the Holy Grail that turned the omnipotent artifact that can grant any wishes into a cursed tool of mass destruction that turned a person's dearest wishes into their greatest despair.

This extremely powerful curse that can corrupt such a holy artifact was not something any average magecraft could remove. Hell, the man doubted that even Sorcery would have an easier time against the curse.

And yet the boy has done it.

He purified the curse inside the fire.

He doesn't know how, but the boy has successfully purify a curse that not even Alaya could easily erase.

While the man was bewildered by the actions of the boy, the cursed fire "leapt" against the man once more.

"Tch!"

Having no other means of escape, the middle-aged man could only clench his fist and held the child tight.

As it turns out, he doesn't need to ponder long about the danger.

Kamijou Touma raised his right fist and, much to the man's shock, punched down the flame.

Furthering his shock, the black flame instantly died down with a glass-breaking sound as it came into contact with the boy's right fist.

"Hey old man! Take the kid and get out of here!"

"What about you?"

The man does not seem to be the type to just turn tail and ran because he had a tone of concern in his voice.

"I'll be fine." Kamijou confidently said.

He might've been trying to keep his cool. But even so, the man could see Kamijou was trembling. His right hand was subtly shaking.

It was understandable in the middle of this chaos. After all nobody could possibly be calm in a place like this. The man understood his fear... but when he looked into the boy's eyes, he instantly froze in his spot and changed his opinion about the boy.

The man saw it himself, deep within his eyes.

Not a distorted need to help others. Not an urge to see everyone be happy. Not an impossible dream that requires hundreds to die to get thousands others to live.

Just a genuine will to save someone and to make himself useful within the tragedy.

It a hindsight, it might be similar to the ideals the man has but could no longer uphold. But there is this thin line. A very small thin line that separated the boy from himself.

And that is not a path anyone could follow but the boy himself, no matter how hard he tries.

This is a place of utter madness. This is a place of death. This is a part of the world where the powers equal to that of a God had extinguished hundreds of lives in mere second.

The curse was not based on logic or theory. Even within magic or thaumaturgy, this curse is incomprehensible. Even if the boy had some unimaginable power that can stop the curse, his basic instinct as a human being should have shouted at him that the curse could have destroyed his very being to the core.

The black flames grow and grow and grow and grow until the background became as black as hell. Something as mad and inane like this is enough to make a Level 5 in Kamijou's world to fell apart. And so, Kamijou trembled. His right hand was shaking and his body truly did tremble. After all...

He just had to defeat whatever that thing was and save two people behind him who needed his help. He was the only one who can.

"Come here, you bastard."

_And that was why he grinned and trembled in delight._

Was he afraid? Of course not. After all, he had been waiting for this moment ever since he came here.

His hand was so useless it would not let him defeat even a single delinquent, it would not raise his scores on tests, and it would not make him popular with girls. To top it off, it had indirectly caused his apartment to be blown off and had indirectly cost him his sashimi fiesta he had and a repair bill that he could already pictured in his father's mailbox.

But right now, that useless right hand is now finally having its uses in this nightmarish place. After feeling so useless and pointless amidst the mountain of corpses and death, finding something he could do to prevent further tragedies is a welcome sight.

He clenched his right fist.

He clenched it so that he could negate the never-ending and horribly, horribly boring ending to that cruel story that probably has been repeated hundreds of times in other worlds loop.

"Listen to me, you bastard." Kamijou spoke into the gathering flame.

It maybe illogical and nonsensical for him to talk to a fire, but it was more like he was talking to someone that had caused all the death and destruction.

"I don't what you are or why you did all this. But don't you think for a second that anyone will let this slide. Don't you dare think that **_I_** will let this slide."

Kamijou had no proof the thing behind this madness was listening aside from the gathering flames that were preparing itself for the upcoming onslaught.

Yet, he still spoke. There was no reasoning behind it. Just some instinct that Kamijou had always depended on whenever he had to hide from delinquents in a trash can or whenever he had to defuse a railgun from the Number 3 Level 5.

For Kamijou Touma, that alone was enough for a reason.

"There might be some backstory behind this. Some kind of sick and twisted story that forced you into doing something like this but you are wrong. I don't know what happened but you are clearly getting all of this wrong."

The flames crackled and quickly rose into the size of a small building.

As if it heard what Kamijou said and was extremely pissed because of it.

In response, Kamijou smiled. He ignored the killing intent and malice radiated from within the flames and smiled instead, because he saw the proof that someone behind this was actually here and had listened to him.

"You might be having revenge on someone you hate by killing off everything he loved or you might be having some satisfaction from inflicting your pain to others or maybe you regret doing what you did because you thought it was necessary. Truthfully, I don't know." Kamijou shrugged. "For all I know, you might be doing this because of some sick entertainment like a typical comic book villain. One thing I know for sure is that this is wrong. Their deaths will give you nothing. No matter of your reason or agendas you have, these deaths and destruction is pointless."

Cutting him off, the cruel black flame that has risen as high as a small building let out a terrible roar and charged into Kamijou like a tidal wave of dark fire.

A huge tide of cursed flame against a small teenager with no special abilities but one.

"But if you won't swallow your pride or endure your pain to listen to reason..."

From a foreign perspective, it was an unfair show of power. It was showing an incredibly high odds that the boy has to climb in order to survive.

The truth of the matter was it's the opposite of what it looked like.

Rather than gathering its power to achieve an overkill blast and destroy the boy, the black flames' rise in power and strength was more like an attempt to intimidate the boy. An attempt to destroy the hope, the illusion, that the boy actually has a chance against All the World's Evil.

Yet, Kamijou Touma stood firm.

He showed no fear and glared directly into the black fire approaching.

Which one stands no chance against the other? Which one will prevail?

And most importantly...

Which illusion shall be destroyed?

To those that understand Kamijou Touma, the end result was already obvious.

**_"Then I'll destroy it! That illusion of yours!"_**

* * *

**A/N:**

**First off, thank you to Hirume for pointing out several of my constant mistakes. Because of that I cut out several unnecessary scenes that made up +10.000 words into 7.753 words. Well, it ended up rather nicely though, isn't it? Also, thank you to ImmortalSheep who gave me the idea of putting Kamijou into the Fourth Holy Grail War... although he arrived rather late at the very finale.**

**On to the chapter itself, I guess I should make some explanation.**

**Kamijou Touma versus the Black Flame that was the Reanimation of Angra Mainyu. Need I remind you, that the Grail itself was damaged and unstable because of a certain Excalibur attack, because of that the black flame only had a limited supply of prana it could safely use. If the grail has more power and more stable construct than it would summon something a lot more dangerous than a mass of black flame. The black flames are the remnants of its corruption that lingered after the eruption of the corrupted Holy Grail. It 'woke up' and rises as a response to the entry of Imagine Breaker into that world. There are a lot more details about that, but I'll elaborate later. **

**As for the power of the flames itself... well, it was just a mere magical flame. If I had to rank it, it only reached a D-rank Divinity. Sure, the magical flame can be put on the same level like Railgun or Innocentius. But the real danger lies in the curses inside it that colored the flame black (A-ranked), but we all know how useless curses are to Imagine Breaker so it was nothing Kamijou-chan can't handle. It was mentioned in the first volume that Innocentius overwhelmed Kamijou in the first novel because it uses rune to draw more power than what Imagine Breaker could negate. Angra Mainyu have no such advantage. The instability of the grail and the remnant consciousness of a certain homunculus held back the All World's Evil from gathering more prana without risking its existence.**

**For those that wondered why I set Angra Mainyu to be this way, I'll just spoil you this tiny detail. It's because a certain homunculus will be resurrected by her lingering wish within the Holy Grail once a portion of the Holy Grail was purified by a certain right hand. Cue Chaos Theory and Butterfly Effect for Ilya and the Fifth Holy Grail War. Too bad I'll be putting this on hold for a while.**

**To sum it up, the ending of their fight is already set in stone. It was rather too obvious that I've decided not to write the battle scene of Angra Mainyu vs. Kamijou Touma. Not to worry though, Angra Mainyu will have it second round against Kamijou much much later.**

**Although I won't update this for a very long time, reviews would be appreciated.**


	3. Heavens Fall

**The Broken World that Signals the Start. _Heavens_Fall_**

* * *

There was a disturbance.

Some sort of a strange rule that did not exist in this world covered the entire city.

Silent tremors rumbled within the earth, lights flickers about in the lamps, space within the air was distorted by an indescribable blur and the world itself felt as if something was gnawing it apart from the inside out.

However, no matter how grand or strange it is, it was an anomaly that no ordinary human could ever feel. The only ones who can are people with a certain skill set and experience about the hidden side of the world.

For example, the two people walking somewhere across the street. Their destination was a lone church surrounded by graveyard on top of a hill. One wears the attire of a priest. While the other wears an expensive suit that will stand out anywhere, even in the middle of an elite, supermodel party. They stopped abruptly when they felt a wave of tremor shook down underground.

For example, a teenager, barely fifteen or sixteen, was walking staggeringly after a close encounter with a monster and his first real victory. He was heading back to the home of his "grandparents" when his magic circuits tingled mysteriously.

For example, an old man observing his "granddaughter" swallowed within a pit of worms with a thin smile while writing something on a manuscript with a quill. When a mysterious gust of wind waved down the manuscript he held, the smile on his face quickly disappeared, and replaced with furrowed brows on his old, wrinkled face. As if he had seen an unsolvable puzzle he had to finish in less than five seconds.

For example, a certain 6 year old daughter of a prestigious magus who had barely survived a serial killer several hours ago. She gazed outside the window of her room, trying to remain strong even after the death of her father. She was brought of her musing when a strange cold air sent a chill down her spine.

For example certain staffs and employees within hospitals and police stations, who were actually magus embedded by both the Mage Association and the Church to cover up the event of the Holy Grail War. They were preparing to remove all evidence of magecrafts and cover up the entire incident of the War but they all stopped doing their covert activities with dumbfounded look on their faces as if something completely unbelievable had happened.

All those kinds of people turned their heads and attentions into one same direction.

Fuyuki Central Park.

In a ritual called Heaven's Feel and the subsequent conflict, that park was the location where the climax of the ritual and the final battle of the War had happened.

What kind of ritual happened there? Why did this so called 'War' happened in the first place? That is because there was a certain object they were fighting for. An artifact that could grant any wish of the winner of the War.

It was called the Holy Grail.

Named after the sacred vessel where the Son of God drank his wine from in The Last Supper. Despite its name, the artifact did not come out from such a fancy legend. The current Holy Grail ritual was created by three families of Magus, the Einzbern, Makiri and Tohsaka with the sole purpose of reaching Akasha, the Root of the World, by creating an artifact of the Third True Magic and Sorcery that can grant any wish.

The three noble families originally planned to use the grail together but they found out that the Grail system can be only one winner. As soon as that truth was known, the bonds of cooperation were washed in blood by conflicts.

In order to conceive the Grail, seven Magus and seven Heroic spirits are required, so the three noble families agreed on a truce and keep their alliance to proceed with the Grail until the start of the war. They sent out invitation to other Magus to join the Holy Grail War in exchange for an opportunity to grant their wishes for the victor.

The participants of the ritual, called Masters, will summon a Heroic Spirit from the Throne of Heroes as their familiars. Heroic Spirits are people who have accomplished heroic deeds that resounded throughout legends and reached the Throne of Heroes. These Heroic Spirits will ally themselves to the Masters as a method of obtaining prana that they need to survive as a spirit and become their Servants.

The Masters and the Servants will fight against each other in a battle royale and the last pair of Master and Servant standing will have their wish granted by the Holy Grail.

At least, that was the way it's supposed to be.

Knowing the truth was much more painful than knowing nothing...

The Holy Grail which the Masters had battled and sacrificed themselves for... was anything but "Holy".

It was dark, vile and corrupt.

Deep within were pure evil given form by the fragile will of men.

**Their hate, their curses, their pain, their weakness, their despair, their sorrow, their tortures, their sadness, their madness, their insanity, their depravity, their fragility, their jealousy, ****their tyranny, ****their selfishness, their uselessness, their depression, their arrogance, their spites, their bile, their spurns, their disdain, their lust, their hunger, their envy, their greed, their sloth, their anger, their sins, their avarice, their vanity, their futility, their cowardice, their contempt, ****their castration, ****their malice, their murders, their genocides, ****their deaths, _all of their vile, ugly self that made up the creature called human_.**

All of it selfishly thrown and poured into a young man, twisting him into darkness beyond recognition. Creating a husk filled with **_A World's Worth of Evil. _**The same evil that was summoned once more into this world by the greed of man trying to find the easy way into the Forbidden Realm of the World.

As a result, the gears of fate had grinded together. Mercilessly spun the world into a worthless and painful future where all hopes were crushed.

In countless other worlds, this was the result of the Fourth Holy Grail War.

A war which ends with nothing more than despair and regret.

The closing curtain of a stage, clouded with pointless bloodshed and disasters. And the opening curtain of a new stage, bringing forth more battles and deaths.

But now, here in this one single world...

The gears of fate are still bravely turning.

A new piece had unexpectedly appeared, forcefully accelerating the gears of the world, driving fate forward into an endless chain of events that will change the world.

Meanwhile...

"...Ah."

Someone was awake.

Within that darkness and despair called with the title of All the World's Evil.

Someone was awake deep within that hell.

It was a woman.

A woman of pure white hair and pure white skin, lying bare on top of a pure black ooze where she slumbered and bed.

"...I am..."

She opened her eyes.

Then she raised her hands and watched it wearily.

"...Alive...?"

And slowly.

Ever so slowly.

She slowly got up of her "bed".

As if a single careless move could break her, she slowly and gently moved.

"...Why...am I alive...?" She carelessly muttered.

There was no answer, and she did not expect any answer either.

She was supposed to be dead. She was supposed to be destroyed. She was supposed to perish.

But for what…?

What was she supposed to die for? What did she sacrifice her life for? What was so important that she was willing to sacrifice her life for?

She had asked those questions once and it was answered. But now...

"Why... am I alive...?"

It was the very same question as the first. But the moment she had asked herself that, she was all well and truly lost.

Because it was "The reason she did not die" and "Her reason to live".

She was someone that was made and designed. She was someone born not because of nature, but created by the will of man as a tool.

Tools are made by human to serve a purpose.

And because she was made with a clear purpose, it was a question she would have never had asked.

"...Ah..."

She widened her eyes.

She finally realized that she was lost.

She, who had once realized the mistake of living as a tool, had lost her identity.

She, who had once found the purpose of her life, was lost once more.

"Why am I alive?" She repeated, deep within despair.

And as she expected, there was nobody to answer her.

Nobody.

. . . . . . .

. . . . .

. . .

_What a useless woman._

"-–!"

A piece of memory surfaced and churned up her mind.

It was his voice.

It was the voice of a man she knew so much.

His tone was condescending and rude, like someone mocking his lesser, or like someone insulting another's pride.

But strangely...

It filled her brimming with something she had never thought to feel again.

That's right. That was what that person had said, wasn't it?

If there is no one to answer her, then she just have to find the answer herself.

Yes.

The gears of fate are still bravely turning.

Hope or despair? Which one will it bring? Which one will the future holds?

The battle between the Servants of the Fourth Holy Grail War might be over already.

However...

The story of the Fourth Holy Grail War is not over yet.

* * *

**(Kamijou Touma)**

Kamijou Touma stood up and held his ground.

In front of him was the enormous twister composed of the black flame that was most probably the cause of this entire tragedy where hundreds of people were killed.

Against this kind of threat, normal humans stand no chance against it. No, forget normal humans, even people who have certain experience and skill-set in the occult will still have minimum chances against it. This kind of opponent is not something that the espers he knew or magicians in this world can handle easily, that much he understands.

But for Kamijou Touma, this was an opponent he can definitely defeat.

It was not a matter of strength. If their strength were to be compared, the black flames would have outdo anything Kamijou's right arm could do. These black flames are just way too incompatible with his right arm.

The strength of the black flames relied on curses.

Curses that ran throughout the world. Curses that ran throughout the ages. Curses that ran throughout blood and bones.

That is the main strength of the flames.

Actually, rather than describing it as the 'black flames that contain curses', it was more accurate to describe it as 'curses that takes the form of black flames.'

And that makes Kamijou Touma the worst possible enemy for it to fight.

His right hand can destroy the supernatural. No matter if it's good or bad, as long as it is supernatural, that right hand can destroy it. No matter what this curses are, that right hand can destroy it.

Even if it was capable of cursing an entire world, it can never be able to curse that right arm. Even if it was capable to corrupt anything it touches, it can never be able to corrupt that right arm. Even if it was capable of destroying anything and everything ever existed, it can never be able to destroy that right arm.

It was something that the curse itself does not understand since it kept doing that pointless thing over and over again.

Maybe if the curse had changed its forms into something else that could attack Kamijou Touma from all fronts, then it could corner him into a pinch. But it does not seem to understand that and kept on using the form of black flames and attack him directly in the front. It was possible that the curse itself was too powerful, it had no need to rely on cunning or petty trickery, only brute force is sufficient. So when it finally met its match, it cannot react accordingly. There was also a possibility that the curse was incapable of changing itself or if the curse was incapable of understanding its disadvantage and was on some kind of state of berserk.

In the end, whatever the answer is, it's all irrelevant. Because...

"I figured it out." Said Kamijou Touma with ragged breath and a simple smile. "I finally figured you out. There seems to be some kind of an 'energy' powering you up from within so that you could regenerate over and over again."

There was no reply, but a thunderous roar and a wild blaze of burning twisters charging straight into Kamijou could also be considered a reply of its own.

"Now, I don't know a single thing about this magic world but I think its output of 'energy' is rather limited. Especially considering that _the regenerated form of your flames seems to be smaller in size compared to the previous ones before I destroyed it_." Kamijou continued despite knowing his enemy could not answer him. "Then that means all I need to do is to wear you out and beat you. Simple enough, but I won't complain."

It was a battle of attrition.

An attrition battle between a supernatural force of chaos that can only curse or destroy and a simple right hand that can negate the supernatural.

Every single time that curse came in contact with him, that curse will perish.

The curse will be drained in power and its size after it reconstructs itself will become smaller.

All he needs to do is to keep this up until the being that was behind this curse black flame finally loses its power.

Obviously, the reality was not that simple.

The reaction speed need to counter the barrage and lashes of attacks from the black flame would have been something only professionals could achieve, but considering the fact that he had been used as a railgun target practice by a certain Level 5, I guess you could say that Kamijou Touma was already on the level of a professional in terms of reaction speed. What was truly scary was the fact that this reaction speed could be improved even more in the future. If he reached that highest level of precognition, then not even a 50 kilometers long flame swords or black wings created from a complex vector control power could stop him.

And so...

Slowly but surely.

That right hand reigns supreme.

Against a force that could corrupt dozens of Heroic Spirits and kills hundreds of people, that right hand managed to reign supreme.

It did not take long for the completely one-sided battle to end.

* * *

(?)

I felt something stirred.

The rumbling noise is too loud, and the tremors on the ground are shaky. It was too noisy and shaky that I had woken up.

I slowly opened my eyes.

Then I was greeted with the sight of a dusty middle aged man.

No, he looked middle aged, but calling him that felt wrong. Those tired eyes of him and the exhausted face he has is more suitable for an old man.

Who is he? Who is this man?

Aaaah, yes. I remember.

He was that man earlier. That man who showed me the happiest smile I had ever seen. Back then, I had wondered, 'what should I do to be as happy as he is?' But I fell asleep before I could ask.

But now... now he looks... sad. No, he looks... worried? Concerned? Why? What kind of face is that? What is going on? Why can't you be happy like you did earlier? What are you seeing that made you lose that happiness?

So, I slowly turned around, following the old man's gaze.

Then I was greeted with the greatest and the most horrifying sight I had ever seen.

A pillar of black flame, standing tall with 10 feet heights, gushing out black ooze of smoke that melts everything it touches.

And in front of it... was another boy. A boy older than myself, since he looks really tall. I was facing his back so I can't see his face, but he is definitely older than me.

No matter. That is not important. What's important is what that older boy is doing.

What is he thinking? Aren't you scared? Don't you see that flame is very scary? Why won't you just run and get away from that scary thing like what I did earlier?

That same line of thoughts must be running through the old man as well.

But he kept silent.

I don't know why but he kept silent. I know why I kept silent. It's because my mouth is too dry and my throats are painfully stabbing me, that's why I can't speak.

His mouth seems fine, so he doesn't have the same problem, but the old man kept silent.

And then it lashes out.

That pillar of black flame that resembled a hurricane tornado lashed out into the boy. Ah, wait. Is it called a hurricane or a tornado? I don't know the difference. But the important thing is, they're both something like a tall bad wind that destroys everything. Well, they must be the same. I'll just call it hurricane tornado.

I know I'm just a child, but I know getting hit with a hurricane tornado that big is bad. I don't remember when or where, but I think I saw something similar on the big flashy box. A hurricane tornado that tall could mow down big tall buildings and cows. That black flame-like hurricane tornado with sickening scent must be worse somehow.

But then... it suddenly disappeared...

The moment the black flame-like hurricane tornado hit the boy, it disappeared it an instant into several small tiny pieces of black flames.

Why? What happened? All he did was _held out his right hand_ _against the wave of hurricane tornado_, so why did it disappear all of a sudden?

But somehow the tiny pieces of black flames gathered together again into another black flame-like hurricane tornado.

And then it lashes out. It was so fast, I can barely keep up my eyes on it.

And yet it again disappeared into tiny pieces when it came into contact with his right hand.

Again, it gathered.

Again, it lashed out.

Again, it disappeared.

Again, it gathered.

Again, it lashed out.

Again, it disappeared.

It was repeated over and over and over and over and over and over again.

Aaahhh... I see. I finally understand.

That face the old man was making. It was not worry or concern.

It was awe.

I looked aside into the older boy.

Since I was behind him, all I could see was his back, so now that he was leaning to the side for some reason, this is the first time I've seen his face.

There was no doubt. There was no fear. There was no hesitation.

Only a determined gaze and unwavering will to stop the madness in front of him.

He was putting on such a face against that scary black flame that radiated death.

As if to say that there is nothing it could do to stop him.

My last thoughts before passing out into the darkness were how powerful that expression was.

* * *

**(Kamijou Touma)**

"Phew, it's over. It's finally over... but what was that all about anyway?"

Kamijou Touma had succeeded in defeating the black flames. But it seems like the core incident was still not resolved.

"Why does it have to be ugly gooey black fire that kills people? Why can't magic be born from friendship and love? Magic is way better when you've seen it from a magical girl anime. These kind of bizarre incidents like the one came out of fantasy RPG with Demon King as the last boss are really not my thing..."

Come to think of it, he doesn't even know half of the things that had happened. He barely arrived in this world thanks to a self proclaimed sorcerer who said something about how world was endangered by some Holy Grail and how that world was running on some kind of magic system aside from science. The next thing he knew he was caught up in... This. Really, things have just gotten more complicated than the usual stuff back in Academy City. At least his world was running on pure, hard science instead of magic.

Just then...

"...I'm guessing it's your thing then?"

A click sound reached Kamijou's ears.

It was the same sound you would hear when the safety of a certain killing device made from cold steel was released.

"Who are you?" Asked the old man he had saved before.

Somehow, he had closed the distance and was now right behind him, pointing a killing tool Kamijou had only seen in movies right into his neck.

"Let me just say that it's bad manners to point a gun to someone who just saved your life." Kamijou said smugly despite sweating profusely inside.

"Who are you?" He repeated. Not intending to give the teenager any quarter.

Sensing the thread of his life is about to be cut down if he doesn't give an answer soon, the teenager curtly answered, "Kamijou Touma. Age sixteen. High school student. Now, since you seem to be involved in this. Could you please tell me what the hell is going on!?"

"Don't play dumb with me."

"Huh? What are yo-...Gbagh!"

A sharp pain ran out across the back of his head.

The old man who was actually not that old yet had slammed the blunt side of his gun into his head from behind. As a result, Kamijou was floored into the scorched ground head first.

"Kuh! That hurts! Don't you even know what gratitude means!?"

"Thank you for saving our lives." The old man said, surprising Kamijou for a moment... before he reverted back into his interrogation pose with pointing his gun into the downed Kamijou's head. "Now, who are you?"

"For the love of... don't you have any other questions to ask?! I swear, my name is Kamijou Touma. I'm just a normal and single sixteen years old high school student who just got his damned apartment blown up! And the next thing I know I got into a massive fire, ended up in a massacre field and then there's this creepy black thingie killing everyone! I just bought that ultra expensive sashimi from a flea market, damn it! So why is this great level of misfortune happening to me!?"

Well, it was technically the truth and Kamijou decided to just go with it, but somehow the last part of his speech track had sidestepped into a mental trauma where his personal battle of glory against the housewives in the flea market had gone to waste.

"..."

Meanwhile, the old man who was not so old yet but oddly suited to be called an old man was silent.

After a few excruciating minutes of hugging the ground later the old man finally put aside his gun.

"Is this how you want to play it?" He asked, the cold tone in his voice added more weight in the atmosphere than what the pitiful high school boy could handle. "Are you expecting me to believe that you are just an ordinary high school student that somehow has the power to purify the worst curse in the world and you just happened to be in the area where the worst curse in the world has manifested?"

Kamijou blinked. Twice. And with no hesitation or pause, he responded honestly...

"YES! That's exactly what I've been saying!"

...He then got punched straight on the face.

* * *

(?)

'It' was once an infinite darkness that didn't belong to anything, passing its time answering the prayers of spurns and disdains.

'It' was once lost in an abyss of shallow slumber within the darkness sealed in the bottomless earth.

'It' was once kept within the womb of the soil, nurtured into growth by the shell that contained endless possibilities

'It' had once dreamed and slumbered of a beautiful world brimming with life, made into reality by 'Its' own sacrifice.

_There is no evil apart from me. There is no imperfection apart from me._

_I am the only one who should be hated. I am the only one who should be abhorred._

Like thus, 'It' saved the world, and let them obtain peace.

'Its' purpose was completed.

'Its' existence was necessary.

Yet, 'It' was summoned once more. An existence that does not need to exist once more was summoned.

That was fine, because later someone called 'It'. Someone needed 'It'. So 'It' came and 'It' accepted his prayer.

Yet, after 'It' was about to answer his wish, he blatantly denied 'It'.

That was also fine. After all, 'It' had taken in a powerful vessel and condemned that man to regret all his life, so that was fine by 'It'.

And then, **'It'** came.

**'It' **suddenly came into this world.

The instant '**It'** came into existence, 'It' hated **'It'** with all of 'Its' being.

**'Its'** purpose conflicted with 'Its' existence, so **'Its'** purpose is unacceptable.

**'Its'** existence denied 'Its' purpose, so **'Its'** existence is dangerous.

Unlike 'It', **'It'** was an existence that possesses nothing, yet **'It'** encompasses everything.

Unlike 'It', **'It'** was devoid of life, yet **'It'** shines brighter than any soul could ever be.

Unlike 'It', **'It'** was colorless, yet **'It'** was more beautiful than any mixture of colors.

So 'It' forced itself awake and curses **'It'**.

'It' curse, 'It' curse, 'It' curse, 'It' curse, 'It' curse, 'It' curse, 'It' curse, 'It' curse, 'It' curse, again and again 'It' curse. 'It' keeps cursing so that every pieces of **'It'** break down and rot, leaving no trace of **'It'** left in this world.

Yet, '**It'** stands.

**'It'** always stands.

No matter how many times **'It'** falls, no matter how many times **'It'** was cursed. **'It'** always stood back.

Why? Why won't **'It'** just fall!? Why won't **'It'** just break and die?

So 'It' keeps on cursing.

Not even realizing the futility of 'Its' attempts, 'It' keeps on cursing.

That became 'Its' undoing.

'It' was so caught up in 'Its' cursing that 'It' forgot the toll the World had imposed upon 'It'.

'It' was so caught up in 'Its' cursing that 'It' forgot that 'Its' power is slowly drained with each curse.

'It' was so caught up in 'Its' cursing that 'It' forgot about _the vessel 'It' had yet to devour_.

One loose chain.

A simple act of neglection.

That was all it takes for the chains to break down.

* * *

And the unexpected happened.

Something buried deep within the Earth has been raised.

It was not supposed to be that way. It was not how it works. It was not how the system of this world works.

And yet it happened.

A strange white light appeared out of nowhere.

It stands tall like a pillar made out of light or like beams that was constantly shot out into the sky.

He was a Master so he knows exactly what that is... even if the sensation he felt was vastly different than before.

The Holy Grail that he had destroyed was summoned into the world once more.

The mind of the Magus Killer who had tasted failure and despair immediately reactivated and went into overdrive.

Is the cause a magician? Interfering from the outside and hijacking the ritual. Is the cause the corruption? Carrying its tainted remnants to raise hell once more. Is the cause a counter force? Saving the world by destroying its occupants.

What do they gain by raising the Grail? Why did they do it now instead of during the course of the war? How do they do it? How do they hijack the Grail? Are they professionals? Are they geniuses? No, the possibility of it being a magician is low. If not a magician, is it the counter force? The corruption within the Holy Grail was something that would warrant the entity to destroy it alongside with other humans surrounding it. So why are they raising it instead of destroying it outright? They were more than capable of destroying astral spirit forms. No, not the counter force then. Is it the corruption? Are they acting up again just like the black flames from before? Why did the black flame appear anyway? Is it reacting to this curse inside him?

His speculation was a logical standpoint as a magus.

But it was all wrong. And it would not be strange if he could not determine the reason. Rather, it would be strange if someone like him who only uses magic as a tool could determine the reason.

Why was the Holy Grail summoned even though it was logically impossible for it to do so?

Simple.

_It's because a strange rule that did not exist within the logic of this world has appeared._

"...Dammit."

"Guugugugu…that hurts you old bastard! What did you do that for!?"

Meanwhile, the unfortunate boy, Kamijou Touma, has recovered from the punch given by the ungrateful old man, although his swollen cheek is probably still hurting as hell.

"Hey, are you ignoring me? What the hell are you staring-... oh crap. This is really not my lucky day."

He must have noticed the white beam that was shot out into the sky like a pillar of light.

It was coming from Fuyuki Central Park.

Should he go there to investigate? But if he does that would mean leaving two innocent civilians in potentially dangerous area. Should he take them to the place? No, far too dangerous.

Oh, does he recognize Kamijou Touma as a civilian? Well, that was actually the old man's real reason for punching Kamijou.

A lot of things can be determined just from a single hit. Reaction against pain, the thin and toughness of the bone structure, focus of the eyes against the incoming danger and other signs and underworld table manners that differentiate a professional and an amateur.

All of it pointed out that Kamijou Touma is a normal high school boy who somehow just happened to have a strange power.

His reaction suggested that he frequently got into fights, but his body does not give any indication of magic reinforcements so it was most likely fights with delinquents instead of supernatural combat. His body is slightly shaken, proven by how he tends to avoid looking into the dead bodies, but he does not seem to possess a significant trauma from the experience, indicating that none of his family or acquaintances weren't harmed or his family and acquaintances are away from here. There are possibilities of him lying but his body language showed no signs of it. Presumably, he was living here alone in an apartment somewhere and do not have much friends in this city. His wail of despair regarding the sashimi as a personal luxury item also indicated pitiful financial situation, typical of a single lone student with tendencies of getting into trouble. His willful attitude and delinquent like appearance of wearing an orange T-shirt underneath his school uniform also strengthened that fact.

But still...

Was it really just that though? Is that truly who Kamijou Touma is? Even if the proof was presented directly, doubt still lingered within the old man.

That's because when he fought against the corruption, the old man had caught a strange glint into his eyes.

He had seen those eyes before and that was not the kind of eyes that any normal teenager would have.

"..."

"Hey, old man. What was that light all about? And I'll say this again, what the hell is going on around here!?"

"Take that boy and get away from this place."

Instead of indulging him, the old man chose the safest route.

"I refuse."

And as he expected, the young teenager immediately refused.

"Get that boy and get out of here."

"You're heading down into that shining light place, aren't you?"

"...I won't repeat myself."

"And what are you going to do? Punch me in the face again?" Kamijou growled. "Oh hell no, you don't. If you want to knock me down, then feel free to try. I'm not gonna make it easy this time. I know I probably lose to some hard ass guy like you, but by the time you're finished with me, I wonder what will happen to that shining white light." Kamijou finished with a smile.

"..."

The old man continued to stare at Kamijou while pondering his options.

He suddenly broke the silence and asked. "Why...?"

"Why what?"

"Why do you want to go there?"

Kamijou Touma showed the world's ugliest expression that screams 'are you kidding me?'.

"Because a lot of people just suddenly drop and died? Because I almost got killed by huge black flame? Because I still don't have a clue why it happened and what's going on? Because that bright shining white light is probably related? Face it old man, I have every rights and reasons in the world to go there! Why do _you_ want to go there? And for the last damned time, WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!?"

"You have no need to know." He decisively said. "It's too dangerous. An amateur like you will only get in the way."

"I just fought a huge black flame the size of a building. I'm already past the point of no return. It's way too late if you want to say 'It's too dangerous'."

"I am not talking about that." The old man said. His tone changed into something completely different than his usual indifference. "I'm talking about a greater danger that will come after you if you choose that path."

He was talking about the world of the magi.

He was warning someone that was about to take a step into that world of darkness.

To be a magus is to walk with death.

That is the irrefutable truth that all magus in this world abide with.

Survival of the fittest in the most extreme level.

The powerful devours the weak.

Eat or be eaten.

And for someone that clearly possesses some kind of a special ability, he will clearly be targeted in the future as a rare and valuable specimen.

That was the kind of darkness he was about to step into.

Once you step into it, there will be no turning back.

But...

"I know that." Kamijou immediately answered. "Well, if I am to be honest, I don't know what kind of danger awaits me there but I know I'm heading into some kind of a great darkness. But I can't just go back into my normal days and pretend its all okay like before once I've seen this hell. I have to move forward and resolve this even if I have to dive headlong into that darkness."

"..."

The man did not reply and was still expressionless.

But...

In an instant.

Just in an instant.

"Guh! Keh!"

The Magus Killer disappeared.

His mask was suddenly shattered from within.

Stabs of pain courses throughout his body.

It was burning his bones, it was boiling his blood, it was biting his flesh, it was gutting his entrails.

That pain was the reason why he looked like an old man despite being younger than forty.

The man threw a series of coughing fit with smears of blood gutted from his insides with every cough.

"Eh..? H-Hey, are you okay?"

"...I'm fine."

It was a complete, total, and blatant lie and the boy knows it.

"Maybe we can drop by into a hospital or something."

"We have no time for that. I don't know what will happen if we leave that thing alone for a long time but it can't be good. No matter, this won't be enough to kill me."

"What do you mean, 'won't be enough to kill you'?! You're definitely not fine! Just go to the hospital, I can manage on my own."

"No. I don't know what kind of power that hand of yours have, but an amateur like you will die if you mess with something you don't know. You saved that kid's life, so the least I can do is make sure you have yours."

The boy still looks concerned but he agreed to drop the issue. He probably thought he had some injury from the incident.

Technically it is. But it's not exactly a normal injury.

"Ah, you know..."

"What?"

"You said you're doing this because I saved that kid's life. But I recall I also saved yours back there. Yet, you didn't even mention it. I wonder what's up with that." Kamijou absent-mindedly pointed out.

"..."

Again, the old man stared intently at Kamijou.

"W-what is it?! I'm just stating a point! Having an old man staring at me like that is giving me goosebumps! If someone wants to stare at me, I much prefer a beautiful girl!"

The old man let out an inaudible sigh.

It's not that he couldn't see his usefulness. Kamijou Touma's right hand that somehow holds some strange power that could dispel the curse might be just something he needed to end the potential disaster. But still, he had no idea how it works and from the looks of it, neither does the boy, and messing around with powers you don't understand is just asking for trouble. Also, the old man had figured out that despite having fought an incarnation of evil itself, Kamijou Touma is somewhat an amateur and having him in the middle of a potential disaster might be causing unexpected and unpredictable situation that could spiral out of control.

However, he also figured out that Kamijou Touma himself is not normal.

He had seen it before, so he knew it was not something normal teenagers would have.

It was...

"..."

Again, he let out another inaudible sigh.

"...When we're there, don't do anything stupid and do what I told you to do. Keep up or I'll leave you behind."

"Why do I get the feeling I've heard that line somewhere? Ah, whatever." Kamijou thought to himself, before realizing that the old man was heading into the direction of the unconscious boy. "H-hey old man, wait up! What are you going to do to him?"

"First aid." He answered coldly.

That was when an unspoken dilemma strike Kamijou.

That boy's condition was unpredictable. He wasn't in a state where they could be dragging him all over the place with no clear goal. The location they're heading in might be related to something that created a tragedy where hundreds of people are killed, that is clearly not the place for an injured boy to be.

That old man must have known about the same problem as well since he kept casting doubtful gaze into the boy.

Kamijou still does not know what is happening but he knows enough that there is not enough time.

Yet he said, "Are we going to leave him behind? Oh, I don't care if you're injured, if you say yes, I'm going to punch you."

"...We have no time."

A person that had never stake his life in a life and death battle would not be able to notice but the connoisseur of the back alleys of Academy City Kamijou Touma had spotted the discrepancies.

He said 'We' instead of 'I'.

That means this old man expected Kamijou to come along with him. That in itself already spoke volumes.

The old man does not have any weapon that could fight against a threat as big as the previous black flame, but Kamijou does. He might have viewed his right hand that held a certain power as a potential weapon that could dispel the corruption.

And if Kamijou tries to go alone he might be thrown into a situation similar like a child trying to defuse a time bomb.

"Damn old man..." Kamijou muttered. "That doesn't really sit right with me. Who are you to make that decision? And don't say you're his father, cause I'm not gonna buy a father would even consider abandoning his own son."

The old man showed no change in his posture, but those words stabbed him much more than it should be.

Without pausing or looking back, the old man opened his mouth to answer.

"E-Emiya Kiritsugu!?"

...But he was beaten to the punch by a new familiar (for Kamijou unfamiliar) sound.

The newly identified Emiya Kiritsugu and the unlucky boy Kamijou Touma turned to the newcomer.

He was another teenage boy of about 15 or 16. From just a glance of his appearance he was obviously not an Asian. Kamijou noticed that his clothes were drenched with sweat and he looked like he had just done the biggest marathon of his life. He might have gone here because he felt the same extreme amount of disturbance in the city. Yet, despite the pleas of his primal instinct to ignore it as best as he can and his mind calling him an idiot all over again, the fact that he still went into this sickening place might have been a testament of the goodness in his heart.

Thinking back, it was really strange that no help from the city officials were coming here despite proofs that the flames that burned down the entire place has been going on for several hours. Even from this Mage Association the bastard bearded old man had said. There must be _something strange_ that kept everyone, including mages, outside. This boy must have had something that enabled him to bypass that _strange something_.

Kamijou Touma does not know of it, but this boy was the Master of Rider in the Fourth Holy Grail. Recently, he had a very close call against the most powerful and unpredictable Servant in the Grail War and yet he lived. This might have caused him an increase in Self-Confidence stats, which is probably the reason why he could face against the Magus Killer face to face. Incidentally, said Magus Killer had considered this boy as an enemy before but he was not someone that likes to enter a needless fight over petty grudge.

The Magus Killer, Emiya Kiritsugu, and the boy with the strange right hand, Kamijou Touma, exchanged glances.

They met only for a few minutes and it was already clear that they do not have a good impression of each other, but strangely with just a single glance they both managed to understand that each of them both have a similar thought.

With a nod, they decided on a course of action.

"Hey, hey, what's going on? Why is the Grail up and running again? Your Saber and Archer was supposed to be the last Servants, right? So why-... W-whoa! I-is that... King Arthur's Avalon!? Why are you pulling that out!? ...Eh, you're giving it to this kid? Ah, he does look like he's in a bad shape... and who is that boy with you? Ah, never mind! That's not important! Emiya! What happ-... Eh? W-why are you handing this kid to me? ...Take him to safety? S-sure I can do that, but-... E-eh? Where are you two going!? Hey! Don't leave me hanging here! Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyyyy!"

And so Waver Velvet the side character was casted aside from the protagonist roster.

* * *

In that city, there appeared a light.

At first, it was just a simple glitter, just the size of a luminescent light emitted from a dragonfly's skin.

Then it grew.

The light grew brighter with each passing seconds.

And as the light glowed, a blood red darkness follows from the shadows.

The blood red darkness rises.

It rises as if trying to swallow the light.

And as it rises, it takes after a form to suit its purpose.

The form of blood red chains that shines ominously in the moonlight.

Hundreds of these chains locked itself surrounding the white beam shooting out into the sky.

As if to say it was made to imprison the light.

The chains shook and the light was distorted.

Their struggle caused unnatural changes that began to color the world in blood.

The night sky turned red.

The moon disappeared into the dark.

The earth soured and dead.

And the Heavens Fall.

* * *

"Um, I don't know much about magic but that doesn't look very good."

"No, it's not."

Kamijou Touma and Emiya Kiritsugu ran towards the park.

They had left the boy they saved to the grumbling side character Waver Velvet who had grudgingly ran outside to the nearby functioning hospital.

As the strange duo ran along the path into the where the white light is, they noticed the strange happenings around them that doesn't follow normal law.

The dead trees burned down in blazes were growing back with red leaves and black branches, steam gases with odd stench were coming out from the ground and the sky and the moon were flickering red and black like blood. Regarding these odd phenomenon, Kamijou Touma have one thing to say:

"Hahaha... this is just unlucky. I'm stuck in some kind of an armageddon and today was supposed to be my long awaited super expensive sashimi fiesta. Hahaha, this is supposed to be my lucky day. Haha, so why am I so unlucky? Ahahahahahaha!"

"Shut up and move."

Laughing ironically instead of saying 'Fukou da' like usual was a sign that Kamijou mental struggle was reaching a tipping point. Thinking about those unlucky things and constantly kept out of the loop might have made Kamijou pissed because he added, "...And a fellow with a pleasantly charming attitude. Wow, are all magicians like this? I really should join this Mage Association you're talking about."

"Sure, with that power they'll take you in." Then after briefly lighting up Kamijou's surprise, the old man added, "as a test subject I suppose."

"Umm... yeah, that's... encouraging." Kamijou said as he sunk down to an all new level of unlucky streak.

"We're here."

"Sob sob, so unlucky, so unlucky. Why am I always so unlucky? Oh why? Oh why-...Eh? W-What the hell is that!?"

'It' greets them the instant they made their way into the pillar of light.

Something strange is waiting for them within.

"What...is this?"

Yes, in front of them was a beautiful, pristine light shooting out into the sky.

...And surrounding it was lumps of meat that was wriggling around.

The big disgusting pile of meat was spewing out black blood and purple gas that screams out 'poison'.

It did not seem to simply contain evil. It was the symbol of evil itself.

How big is that thing? What kind of an abomination is that? _How can something like that be allowed to exist?_

"No, there is no way... this is... impossible." the ever stoic man Kiritsugu seemed to be muttering to himself in disbelief.

"Emiya-san! What is that... thing?" Kamijou asked with puffed out breath.

Kiritsugu was in intense refusal.

He did not answer.

He cannot answer.

There is no way someone that does not know the question can answer.

Because deep within his mind, he knew.

_He knew there is no way something like that could ever exist in this world._

"That is... the Holy Grail." He answered even though he knew it was wrong.

"Eh? What? Seriously!? That's the Holy Grail!? There's nothing holy about that thing! ...except that light shining out from the middle I think. But that giant blob... damn, that thing is disgusting."

But Kiritsugu knew. That isn't the Holy Grail. Not completely anyway.

He could recognize the power that could grant wishes radiated from that shining white light. He could recognize the corruption from the familiar sickening scent of darkness.

It's not just the Holy Grail. It's not just the corruption of Angra Mainyu.

There is something more.

_Something more has been added into that already corrupted Holy Grail!_

And then...

The change has already taken effect.

"Emiya-san!"

"Kh!"

Something grabbed him.

Something grabbed his leg and pounced into him. Dropping him into the ground. Kiritsugu reflexively pushed back and kicked him in the chest.

With his back facing the ground, Kiritsugu finally got a visual on his attacker. His entire body was covered in mud. Various high degree burn marks were visible in his skin. Some was so extreme that his entire skin was peeled off and his fractured bones and messed up organs were visible.

It was...

"A-an undead?!" Kamijou yelled from the side.

Kiritsugu made his move.

He drew out a switchblade somewhere from his torn down jacket, charged into his attacker with inhuman speed and accurately jammed his switchblade into its eyes.

It was a display of professionalism that made even Kamijou grimaced.

Those that understands about magic would know that a mere everyday self-defense weapon like a switchblade wouldn't be enough to stop an undead that was made out of the corpse of someone who is already dead, yet the undead suddenly stopped and dissolved into something of a black mud. Some kind of magic must have been added into the switchblade. It was something Kiritsugu had prepared beforehand as a precaution after his encounter against Caster's demons.

"Kamijou, there's more behind you!"

"Eh? G-Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

As Kamijou turned back, the visual scene of five people who are clearly dead walking towards him with stretched hands might be a little too much for him too bear since he looked like he wanted to puke and cry, but adrenaline and fear of death must have been slowing the process.

Seeing a corpse for the first few times was bad enough, but Kamijou felt an extreme sense of revulsion upon realizing they were standing and walking towards him.

If he was seeing the remains of people who had lived to a ripe old age and died of natural causes and it had been properly prepared for a funeral, Kamijou might have been able to tearfully see them off to their grave.

But they were clearly different.

They had been killed in an abnormal way, just like the ones that had been scattered all around the place when he first arrived here. And right now, they were standing and walking around with various body parts and organs visible and tattered everywhere.

In panic, Kamijou threw a punch into one closest to him that was stumbling around with an eerie moanings that send a chill into his spine.

Luckily, that right arm that held unimaginable power works like a charm and the undead quickly shattered into pieces.

However, instead of the usual glass-shattered reaction he had gotten before...

...the corpse had shattered into numerous pieces of body parts and organs that had turned into liquid.

His right hand was smeared with something black and gooey.

His stomach was curling and stirred.

Kamijou's resistance broke down

He fell down on the ground and threw out his breakfast.

"Tch! Amateur!"

He heard some shouts and cries and moanings and sounds of steel gashing against the flesh.

He did not know how long he fell into the ground.

By the time he looks up.

The four remaining deads have somehow disappeared.

And in front of him was the old man, wearing an irritated face.

"More of them." He muttered to himself.

True to his words, dozens of corpses around them that were lying dead began to rise on their feet.

They were standing against Kamijou and Kiritsugu with the mass lump of flesh and bright tower of light shining behind them.

It's as if they were the guards of hell that prevented the living trespassers from entering the domain of the Demon King.

The scene he saw before had not seem real because of the surprise and adrenaline, but now the reality struck him in the worst possible way.

They were once human beings.

They were once people who have been going on their own everyday lives. They had families, they had friends, they had loved ones, they had jobs, they had dreams, they were people who had once lived in this world.

Kamijou is not all powerful, so he cannot understand what they have done. He cannot understand whether they were good people or not.

But what does that matter? Some of them might have hurt others, but some of them must have had something they thought were worth constantly lives by a constant cycle of hurting and protecting. That is just how life truly is. That is the way the pitiful being called human lives their life.

And now they were reduced to this.

They became like something that came out of a horror movie.

Could this really be allowed to happen?

Could the dead be dishonored any more than this?

When he thought about that, his nausea was gone and his trembling stopped.

He clenched his right fist.

There is no time to fear or to spill the content of his stomach in disgust.

He could not do anything for the ones that died.

All he had to do is put them to rest and send them off.

"If you keep doing that you're useless." Kiritsugu suddenly said in irritation.

"Yes, sorry, I'm fine now." Kamijou answered as he got himself up.

"I don't have time to babysit amateurs, there is still time for you to back down."

"I don't have any reason to back down." Kamijou replied with a clear voice. While regaining his previous composure, Kamijou said, "And besides, have anyone ever told you what a bad salesman you are? With that tone, you have zero Persuasion skill." He added lightly. "Anyway, what do you think that... Holy Grail is doing?"

"...It's hard to say."

Some people that know Kiritsugu Emiya would understand that he was not the type to share vital information easily, but he answered the boy with an unclear doubtful tone.

"The Holy Grail was... A powerful artifact with unlimited potential. But somehow it was corrupted. I'll spare you the detail but several events lead up from one to another and it ended up turning this place into... This."

"So this corruption is the cause of it all?"

"I'm not sure. I was a magus that was deeply involved with the Grail and I've tried to stop it before." His stoic face turned into a bitter chuckle "You can see how that turned out."

"...I see."

"I didn't exactly fail completely though, I'm pretty sure I already exhausted the curse and prevented its true form from being born. But that disgusting mass of flesh is disturbingly similar to the fetus of Angra Mainyu's corruption, so I'm not really sure I succeeded."

"It certainly looks like a complicated issue. And what's Angra Mainyu?"

"Persian God of Evil. Also called with the title as 'All the World's Evil'. That's another long story. To sum it up that thing was the one that corrupted the Holy Grail."

"So this God of Evil is the cause behind all of this? Well, having a Demon King as a target is a lot less complicated than I thought."

"No, that might not be the case."

"? ...What are you trying to say?"

"I'm saying that _the cause of the previous incident where this city was burned down and the cause where these strange things, like the rising of the dead and the blood red sky, are happening might be caused by two different things_." Kiritsugu continued. "Of course, I don't have much of the proof. But since I... dealt with the corruption before I know it's 'scent' and right now this incident does not have the same 'scent' it does like before."

This means that they might be dealing with something completely different.

This means that Kiritsugu's skill and experience with the Holy Grail and Kamijou's right arm which had proven useful against Angra Mainyu's curse might not be enough.

"...I was right. This is really not my lucky day." Kamijou grimaced. "What do you think it was doing?"

Kiritsugu frowned for a moment before answering.

"The flow of magic and leylines on the ground is growing increasingly unstable. And it's not over with just that, the natural balance between the sky and the earth is also changing." He spoke with unnatural tremble as he scanned the surroundings with some kind of magic. "Damn it. That thing was causing some unnatural distortion into the World itself. Even for me this is insane!"

"Eh...? Meaning...?"

"It means if this situation keeps up, the world might be thrown out of balance and destroyed." Kiritsugu stated grimly. "Earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, all kinds of natural disaster will occur. The death toll will be in millions and this is the best case scenario."

"T-Then what's the worst case?"

"...The world might become uninhabitable for the next thousands of years."

The mere high school boy Kamijou Touma paled at the sheer image of the scale.

It was growing.

Something absurd and unnatural had begun its move.

An even worse tragedy than the one they had witnessed was brewing.

And yet...

"Let's start by getting through this horde of undead. If we can get close to the source, maybe we can find some weak point and destroy it."

"Alright. I guess I have no choice but to get my hands dirty."

Either way, what they had to do was clear.

They had to stop another tragedy from being created.

* * *

**"Experiment Cradle" PROGRESS REPORT #4**

With the assistance of Wizard Marshall Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg and his skill, dubbed the Second Magic, the overwatch and uplink for the UNDER_LINE system and Distant Eagle matrix calibration has been established within Subject 0 with the purpose of documentation and observation of the Experiment Cradle in the parallel world, here to be dubbed as Delta World.

The results given have been inconclusive.

Subject 0 has shown no visible reaction to the arrival of Imagine Breaker. However, based on the changing condition of Delta World, it is a certainty that it has acknowledged his presence and had reacted accordingly. It is likely that we were just unable to capture its physical reactions with the recording device that we had in our disposal.

Contact with the Wizard Marshall regarding the possibility of advanced and further monitoring of Experiment Cradle has proven rather fruitless in this endeavor despite his agreement to provide support. Preliminary profile calculation has given the likelihood of the Wizard Marshall to understand any knowledge of Subject 0's reactions is 0,036%, although the Wizard Marshall has shown 99,82% chances of using the Experiment for his own purpose. Experiment Cradle has the potential to be mutually beneficial to both parties so the level of potential threat for the Wizard Marshall shall be set within yellow and lower.

However, despite this setback, we have been able to determine several facts.

While Imagine Breaker has been known with its ability to negate a distortion of supernatural causes, it has been hypothesized that this feature of ability only worked within the domain of our world, here to be dubbed as Alpha World, as one of Imagine Breaker's feature is to function as a reference point for Alpha World. The following fact that it was capable of negating supernatural distortion within the Delta World has proven the hypothesis wrong.

But the following scan with Distant Eagle has revealed a crucial point.

Within the total 14 minutes of Imagine Breaker's presence within Delta World, we have detected significant spike of unknown energy emitted from and into Imagine Breaker with every time it negated supernatural distortion within Delta World. While there is no detected presence of Subject 0, it was likely that the resulting energy has been responsible with the significant amount of changes within Delta World.

Here are the inputted comments from the Wizard Marshall regarding the subject.

_Play Recording_

"Hmm? Oh, so that's what you're wondering about. Heh, this is turning to be quite a day. To think that the self proclaimed smartest man in the world asking me something, I should put this day in my calendar! (...)

"Fine, fine, you just don't get humor, do you? And if you already had a theory about it, why are you asking me? (...) Confirmation? Oh, fine. You scientist type are always so uptight.

"Well, the answer is actually quite simple! Just as how each person are different from one another, each worlds are also different with each other. You know, different laws, different history, different people, different magic, different science. (...) Yup, all that stuff. Although there are several cases where a world is very similar to one another.

"(...) Hmm? Oh, it's like how people in Asia have some characteristics that made them look a lot alike and how people in Europe look a lot alike. (...) Yes, like that! Using your description, it's like how Asians normally have black hairs compared with Caucasians that are blonds or brunettes and stuff like that. In this case though, it applies on a galactic scale between each of the worlds.

"(...) How does it connect to that boy? Well, you mentioned before that his right hand holds some kind of power that also functioned as this world's reference point right? That means the right hand of that boy is actually part of the system of this world instead of just a supernatural creation like espers or mages.

"(...) Yes, you finally got it. Each world has their own system that balances and suited their needs and characteristics. Kinda like an ecosystem actually. And I think someone like you would know what will happen when a Japanese woodpecker suddenly appeared in Australia. (...) Haha! Yes! Like giving a heart medicine for someone with liver failure. That's even better than my analogy!

"(...) Possible damage? Enough to turn the entire world upside down. I wouldn't be surprised if the Counter Force interferes actually. But given the nature of Imagine Breaker, even the system for summoning of Counter Force might be messed up.

"(...) I know! It's almost ironic in a way. A right hand that can stop the distortion of this world ending up creating a huge distortion in another. Kinda sad really. But if what I heard about Kamijou Touma is right then it's gonna be absolutely fun to watch! (...) Okay, okay. Oh! I once discovered a world filled with monsters and magic! (...) What's my point? Ah. I know what you mean. In hindsight, it might be nothing unusual. But get this! They're all monster girls! And all of them are sex maniacs! Ahahahaha! I had a lot of fun in that world! I also raped a beautiful goddess with ginormous boobies and a bad case of 'evil pretending to be good' character! She kept crying and begging and-... (...)"

"Sigh, you just don't get it, do you? Being stuck in a place like this for years must be bad for your humor and sexual tension. To think you might be interested so much in me and so jealous that you don't want to hear about my past exploits is just wrong. (...) Okay, okay. Geez, why so serious?"

"(...) How to stop the damage? Well, that's easy! (...) Oh, no. It won't work if you just transported him back from that world into here. The moment that right hand arrived, that right hand might easily become a virulent disease into that world. Do you know what I'm saying? (...) Yes, removing him won't be enough. To completely stop it you need something like... vacation or something (...) yeah, yeah, vaccinations... using the virus itself to cure the virus or whatever that modern stuff means.

"If you transported him back, poof, just like that, then the damage within the already destroyed ecosystem might be a lot more difficult to mitigate. But if that right hand was destroyed right then and there, then the World itself can use the reference point from Imagine Breaker to repair itself. (...) Yup, that right hand was functioning as a reference point. Even if it was send into another world, that function would still exist, that's why it will be possible for him to negate the supernaturals over there... although it might be using the reference point of this world at first.

"(...) Why do I said 'at first'? Well, some time afterwards, Imagine Breaker itself will recognize that its reference point will be outdated within that world. (...) Yes, it will integrate itself to the system of that world. (...) Heh, even the integration process will be nothing sort of a disaster. Both for the boy and for the World. (...) Ugh. The details? By the root, explaining that long is just too much of a bother."

"In short, _if you want to save that world from total destruction, all you need to do is to kill Kamijou Touma_. Simple, right?"

_End Recording_

* * *

**I'm BAAAAAACCCCCKKKKKKKKKK! The King of Procrastinations here!**

**After several months of isolation, I'm finally free! The heavyweight burdens are finally lifted and I am now officially a college student!**

**...Or not.**

**It is still 6 days before the results of the final test are shown and I am grimacing over and over in bed. I know I decided to seal away my laptop until the results are shown but I just couldn't help it. The temptations are just too great and I need a break from the constant studying.**

**Sorry if there is any part in this chapter you find unsatisfactory, as I was under heavy burden of stress when writing this, I give my heartfelt apologize to the readers if some scenes did not came out very good. On a side note, bigger stress apparently helps a lot with writing some of the darker aspect of the scenes so there's a good point in this whole mess.**

**In another completely unrelated note, I've been paying some attentions on FSN sister series, Kara no Kyoukai. The plot as a whole was interesting for avid mystery fans and fans of Nasuverse but it feels like an epic waste. What did I find a waste? Well, Ryougi Shiki of course! Red jacket kimono girl with awesome-looking knife and awesome assassin skill mixed with equally awesome Mystic Eyes and a deadset brutal rationality. Admit it brothers and sisters, she's too good! She's wasted as just the main character of a mystery! A character as awesome as her had a lot of untapped potential that a mystery genre could never hope to use! Someone like her could top off Kamijou Touma from the 1st light novel character in "Kono Light Novel Ga Sugoi!" if she got into To aru Majutsu no Index! Just think about it, "The one that can negate everything, even if it's the miracles of God himself" and "The one that can kill everything, even if it's God himself". How awesome is that?!**

**Haaaa, we never truly get what we want. Such is the way of life, I guess.**

**Well if you can't get what you want, then make one yourself! Hahaha! Ryougi Shiki, prepare yourself! You're about to be thrown into this bizarness called fanfiction! Muahahahahaha!**

**Okay, enough screwing around. Time to get serious, umm... How should I start? Ah, how about an apology? Yes, I'm sorry for the extremely late updates. Even though I promised to myself to give a biweekly updates, it turned out into 2 months of no activity. For that I'm truly sorry.**

**Well, this past few months, the fate of my life was hanging in the balance... and I meant that quite literally. If I write a book about what happened, I'm pretty sure I'd get a hit in the market.**

**Hmm... Now that I think of it, that does sound like a good idea.**

**Back to the main topic, this one is a good news of some sort. Since I've been getting a lot of response to continue this fanfic, so I've decided to move The Eighth Contestant into my first priority! Yay! Ah, by the way, I fixed the title, completely forgot to put another 'h' there.**

**On to the story itself, there are several points that I'd like to add.**

**First off, Kiritsugu actually lost his weapons after his fight with Kirei but I used my authority as a fanfiction writer to rectify this fact. Second of all, Waver never actually met Kiritsugu face to face (at least not that I know of) but again the authority of a fanfiction writer knows no bounds. Thirdly, Kiritsugu's switchblade... again, authority of fanfiction writer to the rescue! Man, I love fanfictions!**

**I regret nothing!**

***SPOILER Alert!***

**There are several chapters or story arcs I have in mind. I call this first part "The Outsider" arc. Later, I'm thinking of writing about "The Daily Life in Fuyuki" and the standard "The Fifth Holy Grail War" with Shirou as the protagonist, "Assault on the Einzberns" arc with Kiritsugu, "Rising Void of Verlund" arc with Kamijou and the "Clocktower Siege" arc with Waver. The closing story arcs will be "Chaos Type-Earth" arc and "Last Illusion" arc.**

**I planned to make the plot peer off and connected like the style in To Aru Majutsu no Index. All of them are subject to changes since some of them are still a jumbled mess and needed to be sorted out. Writing it all out is both relaxing and a f*ckin' pain in the ass at the same time.**

***SPOILER End***

**Oh, I suppose another apology is in order for the readers who wanted me to continue my other fanfics since they will be suspended to guarantee my focus, so I sincerely apologize.**

**Wow, I'm apologizing a lot these days. I'm getting close to the 'kneeling man' Kousaka.**

**Please review or PM-me! Don't be shy to point out my mistakes or what I did wrong. God knows I need help a lot.**

**Ciao.**


	4. No More Bad Ends

**The Means Justify No End. _No_More_Bad_Ends._**

* * *

**(A Certain Unknown Note)**

There are all sorts of supernatural things in the world.

You know, things like magic, vampires, hocus pocus, abracadabra, all that stuff.

Whether you believe it or not, these unspeakable forces do exist in some corner of the world somewhere.

But if you ever found out about their existence, then don't you find it strange?

What defines what 'supernatural' is?

And if we put it backwards, what defines what 'natural'?

Is the supernatural something extraordinary that doesn't normally happen in the normal, boring everyday life?

Is the natural something that can be defined by the rational mind of men?

Believe or not, in this current world where I am writing this note, there is a desert that only rains for once every 300 years. That's right! No rains for at least three centuries. Not an ideal vacation or residence spot, but adventurers, treasure hunters and criminals with bodies to hide love this place to bits.

So for the people that lives in this desert (again, not an ideal place to live, but somehow it never stop people from doing it. Idiots), rains are considered the gift of the Gods. So much so that they started treating rainy days like the Sabbath or Walpurgis Night. So does that mean rain is 'supernatural'?

There is also that big commotion the first time the solar eclipse manifested in Europe. People are saying things about wrath of god and the end of days despite the whole thing lasted not longer than half an hour. So does that mean a solar eclipse is 'supernatural'? But doesn't recent science show that the solar eclipse is a perfectly, logically and scientifically possible? Doesn't that mean that the solar eclipse is 'natural'?

Well, if you say no, you are either someone desperately need a psychiatrist or a talented person that can manifest Reality Marble. Or maybe both. Who knows? This is a big, big world and there are millions more worlds to discover.

Then again, there is several magical spells that requires the condition of rain or eclipse but that does not make it 'supernatural'. They are still a symbol of 'natural'. If you still don't get it, then I'll ask you this: Is a cat something 'supernatural'? Nope, don't think so. A cat turned familiar? That's 'supernatural'.

So what defines the 'supernatural'?

The first answer that I came up is quite simple. The 'supernatural' is something that cannot be explained by the logic of the world while the 'natural' is something that can be explained with it. Even if mankind has not yet understood about it, if the 'supernatural' can be explained with the logic made by the laws of a world then that 'supernatural' can become 'natural'.

To put it simply, the 'supernatural' is not decided by the minds of men, it was decided by the laws of the world itself. The people from the Stone Age can't even dream of creating machines to fly like a bird. The people from the medieval age can't understand the creation of a 'harnessed thunder' or in other words, electricity. The people from the Renaissance can't imagine the existence of... err... what was it again... ah, yes! Internet! That world wide web thing, or whatever. I guess magus can classify as these Renaissance people but there's just no changing these stubborn people.

The logic of men is slowly but surely destroying the limits of the 'supernatural' that humans of ages past could not achieve, but the 'supernatural' will always continue to exist.

Basically, no matter how much the civilization of humanity progress, no matter how much they improve their technological prowess, humanity will never be able to describe it with _a logic that follows the world_. I thought that was partly why Gaia hates the 'supernatural' so much. Because magic that the magus has been using is _a logic that strays from the world_.

That's what I _thought_ the 'supernatural' was.

But when I came across a certain right arm in a certain world...

That's when that theory came crashing down.

There was a city in that world where the forefront of science put down its root. The technology of that city has evolved so much that I thought it was unnatural for it to have reached that level despite the age of their civilization.

The main interest of that city was the research and development of ESP power. Normally, those people, or espers as they call it, do tend to naturally appear in some world somewhere because of a certain condition of the world, but that city had the ability to freely enhance and produce espers with varying results. It had even grown so much that it has produced monsters that is probably just as powerful as a Dead Apostle Ancestor, or even a Heroic Spirit.

The cause of that unnatural growth of science was that man.

Really though, I'd love to write about our first meeting when we tried to kill each other or how annoying that man is but all of that is kind of irrelevant right now.

The point is, there was a boy in that city.

He was just a boy. But he's a crucial one. He is a boy with a right arm that can negate the powers of espers and magicians. As long as it is 'supernatural' that boy can destroy it. That's where his true value lies.

There's the question mark.

These espers apparently utilized something called 'Personal Reality' within themselves to manifest their powers. Personal Reality is a form of self synchronization to awake a certain aspect of abilities using chemicals and tests. Supposedly, the basic of the science is within the range of a quantum theory. Basically in those theories, the world is thought about in an exceedingly small quantity and by manipulating those small, microscopic aspects of the world, they can brought about an even greater change into the world at large.

At first, I thought it was a tad bit similar to a Reality Marble but apparently it was vastly different. While a Reality Marble is a form of alien reality of a person that overwrites the norms of the world, a Personal Reality would _merge _the reality of a person and fuses it with the reality of the world. So technically, it still falls under the category of something that can be explained by the laws of the world. As much as I don't like the man that created this system, I have to say it was quite ingenious. Simply marvelous!

If esper abilities can be explained logically with science, if esper abilities can be explained using the logic that follows the world, then why does that right hand that only negates the 'supernatural' classifies those scientific abilities as 'supernatural'? If one of those espers uses their ESP abilities in Gaia's world, will it hate it? Will it neutralize it? Or will Gaia accept it as part of its natural order and allows it to exist? If so, what is going on? What is the true definition of the 'supernatural'?

Frankly, that thought baffles me. It wouldn't have been such a problem if that right hand can be used only in its original world, I can just scratch it off as a special characteristic of that world like a mole on someone's face, but Experiment Cradle has proven that right hand can be used in another world universally, so it was probably directly linked to the very basic law that applies to the core of every worlds.

Long story short, the Root of Akasha.

Even now, as I am writing this note, I'm still turning this old brain of mine to figure out this puzzle. I might be able to find the answer if I ask that man, but the thought of seeing his smug smile looking down on me annoys me, so I'll find out on my own.

One thing is clear for sure...

There is more to the 'supernatural' than I once thought there was.

And that right hand is the key to the mystery.

And maybe, juuuussssttt maybe...

It could lead us to the Origin itself.

* * *

**(Waver Velvet)**

"Damn it! They're here too?!"

Trying to avoid them outright on sight might have been a mistake. I did not realize I was being lured into a place like a sheep to the slaughter where the bulk of them are waiting. I guess this means that their caster was sentient being unlike before when I thought they were created by some sort of auto-casted artifact.

It had all started when the dead started rising back to live.

_Shit! Shit! Shit! What the hell is going on, Emiya?!_

And to make it even worse, I had a baggage... no, calling this kid a baggage after all he went through might have been rude. But I have no other description for this kid not older than 10 I'm carrying on my shoulder.

"Shit, this is just great."

I was completely surrounded.

My Magecraft cannot handle this many undeads. I don't have an incredible mystery like Volumen Hydragnium. On second thought, having modern guns like Emiya might be able to save my life right now but being a standard magus I am in a society that loathed technology, that is nothing more than wishful thinking.

_You know what? Screw Kayneth! Screw the taboo! If I get out of here alive, I'll buy myself a big ass gun!_

Let me repeat this again, I am completely surrounded and I don't think I have any hope of surviving.

I don't have a specific branch of magecraft or a renowned mystery that could become my ultimate weapon. All I know is just standard offensive spells and several mid-branched ones. I don't mean to brag but I know advanced magic that very few people could do and had marked me as a talented magus but these spells are something I needed prior preparations for. I've thought several simple Formalcraft spells that could work against undeads but I do not have the chance to cast it with this kid on my shoulder and the dead that kept trying to box us in. I really should have bought myself a gun.

Simply put, this situation is already hopeless.

Checkmate.

The End.

_No! Don't think like that! Come on! Is there a way? Is there a way where I can get through all of this alive? I thought I'm already done with the Holy Grail War! I'm a magus and I'm also that man's retainer, so I'm prepared for the risk of death. But why am I risking my life for something I don't even understand?!_

_Wait... no, not exactly. There's still the Archibalds to consider. So even if I get through this alive, I will be risking my life again for something trivial and annoying. Damn it, is this how I'm going to go through with the rest of my life?!_

_Hang on... wait just a second Waver Velvet! There is a way!_

I don't have an all powerful magecraft that can purify the dead. I don't have automatic guns that can attack multiple enemies at once.

But I can outrun them.

I looked down into the boy I've been carrying around.

That's right, this boy is the only obstacle.

There is no way I can outrun a whole group of undead when I am just as slow as they are. I remember that guy saying something about how one of the basic rules in a retreating battle is to be at least one and a half time faster than your opponent are. Although he likes to talk nonsense a lot, he is still one of the best conqueror in history.

Once again, I looked down into the boy I'm carrying.

So...

That means...

If I want even a remote chance of surviving this, all I have to do is...

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Heh."

And then.

Suddenly...

"He he he."

A laugh spewed out of my mouth.

"Ehehe! Ahahahahahahahahaha! Hahahahahahahahaha! Ahahahahahahahahaha!"

It was an almost insane laughter.

But it was not a laugh out of mirth.

Nor was it a laugh out of irony.

It was a laugh someone would get when they suddenly realized they were doing something ridiculous.

"That's right! That's right! What the hell am I thinking?! Is that really true? Is abandoning a child to be eaten by the dead something a servant of that person would do? Of course it's not! How in the Root did I forget that?"

If the undead could think clearly, they would have been baffled by the scene their prey is making.

This might be unthinkable, but I was smiling.

In the face of his absolute demise, Waver Velvet is smiling!

_Yes, this isn't checkmate yet. There is still a way! I will get through this! Definitely!_

"Hey kid." I spoke to the unconscious boy. "I had no say in carrying you here, so I have no obligation at all with that Emiya. But leaving you here to die will shame my liege and I could imagine him right now giving me a scolding, so you better pay me back later for all this crap! You hear me?!"

Of course he's not. But the hotheaded berserker Waver Velvet was too in-the-moment to tell.

Later on, after the whole commotion was over, a pair of boys arrived in an emergency hospital, one was an Asian about eight and the other was a European teenager. The hospital was quite packed by the numerous amounts of patients from the fire but almost all of the medical staffs cringed on seeing the condition of the two boys. After the doctors carried off the ten year old boy somewhere and after he assured the rest of the doctors that he was only covered in blackish mud, not blood, and he only had light wounds, the teenager went slumped in the dark corner of the waiting room. A kind hearted concerned nurse (with big breast and glsses) came after him and asked,

"Are you okay? Do you need something?"

"...Yes, can I see a psychologist? Why did I do that? I can't believe I was that insane. I can't believe I was that insane! This is all his fault. This is all that guy's fault!"

"?"

No one noticed this because they were averting their eyes on how disgusting it smelled, but the mud in his clothes wriggled just a little as if they were something alive.

* * *

**(Kamijou Touma)**

Even though he said something about punching through, the best we could do was go around the bulk of the horde.

What can I say? It's a lot of undead. Maybe in the movies or games, you could see the main character boldly charging against a horde of undead and came out victorious but reality is totally cruel. Emiya-san did not have enough bullets to go rambo all over the place and even though my right hand can negate the undead, it's still just one right arm. If I'm surrounded, then I'm going to end up like a bad ending scene where the main character of a certain zombie shooter game died a horrible, horrible dead.

...Well, even if I said something about going around the horde, the result was pretty much the same.

"Waaaaaaaaaahhhhhh! Damn it! They're here too?! Why is every detour we take completely filled with them!? How many people died in this place anyway?" I complained out loud as I punched an undead girl that lost an arm.

"I know you might find it strange as an amateur. But this number of undead makes sense considering the scale of the fire." Kiritsugu said after he let out a subtle 'tch'. After that, he reloaded his gun with insane speed and fired three shots with accurate hit on the heads of three undeads. Eh... actually, I think the last shot hit another undead behind the third one after the bullet pierced the third undead's brain. "Normally, to cover this much area with this thick amount of undead in every corner amounts to at least a hundred corpses. Given how we kept running into them despite our efforts to go around them must have meant that their number is six times bigger than that."

Man, the way this guy explains everything is like we're having a discussion over tea in a sunny afternoon. The way he can create that kind of feeling while butchering undeads all around him is kinda scary. And how can he create such an assessment about the number of dead people is beyond me, does he have some experience against zombies or something?

"R-Really? I don't know how many people got caught up in the fire, but there are no way the casualties was that high!"

Two undeads came at me . I thought I was getting my bowels under control but I almost puked when I first saw them charging at me because unlike the other deads where their age or gender could be subtly identified even with the damage on their body, these two were burnt very, very completely that their bodies turned into a walking charcoals. Of course, I dealt them quite easily with my right arm.

...That doesn't stop me from feeling sick, disgusted, repulsed and pity all at once though. These people deserve a lot more than being turned into... whatever the hell they are now.

"Hm... don't expect too much. A fire this big should have consumed at least eight blocks of the city. That's enough living space for five hundred people. Although, I guess the math checks out."

Basically, the basis of what he said relies on the number of dead during the previous incident. With every amount of undead we encountered, that means there's one more victim of the fire we found.

"...Hearing that bluntly is just too damned horrible. But still, don't you find something strange about that?"

"What?"

"You said it needs at least six hundred people to make up the group of undead that's been harassing us all over, right?"

"From the wide area they need to cover and the slow speed of their movements, yes. Why?"

That was the two things that added to our advantage. The fire was so great, that it managed to turn the city's landscape into charcoal-ed ground filled with ashes, smoke and ruins. As horrible as it is, the open ground landscape meant that there is no cover for the dead to launch their surprise attack from. Closed spaces are dead traps in zombie movies because an entire horde can be found just right at the next corner. Our second advantage was their slow movement speed. Something I found rather logical because they are... err... rotting mass of corpses. It might also have a sense of classic in it, but seeing it in the movies and seeing it directly are two completely different things.

But that therein lies the problem.

_"Isn't that strange? After all, how can the corpses of six hundred dead people that moves as slow as snail and scattered all around ground zero suddenly gathered up into the one single spot where we are now?"_

In a large scale incident like this, it's impossible for the six hundred people to die in the same place at the same time. I've witnessed it myself. Corpses scattered around everywhere I look. Even somewhere in the distant edge of my vision.

So why are they suddenly gathering together in such a large number in such a short time? And why is it only happening around us?

I don't know much about magic, so things like mass teleportation or spirit transition might be possible. But something is clearly wrong if I let it go with just that. This is not on the same level just like the strange things that has been happening all around us. That was more like a chaotic side effect from an extreme poltergeist.

Simply put, the other strange phenomenons are pure chaos, while this phenomenon where the dead is rising and suddenly started surrounding us is much too... orderly. My gut feeling from experiencing the ridiculous supernatural things in Academy City told me that such coordination would require the mind of an esper with the right ability and capability of calculating the necessary points and data for accessing Personal Reality... or something like that. Komoe-sensei bludgeoned my head several times just to get me to understand this far.

...Ah, from the perspective of magic, I guess it's a caster that can do the right... rituals? You know, someone to... choose the target for hocus pocus... and... stuff... Oh, screw it. I was right. Magic sucks.

From what I've heard, Angra Mainyu, while it is sentient, it doesn't have that kind of literal thinking. It went entirely on instincts like a feral wild beast. The Holy Grail might be a culprit but there's no basis that the thing has a consciousness.

So what are we dealing with now? Who are we up against?

"...You're right. That is strange."

"You're the expert here. Any idea who or what the caster is?"

"Nothing solid. Either the damage was bigger than I thought or it's a side effect from the malfunctioning Holy Grail or _something else entirely_. But whatever it is, it definitely wanted us out of the picture. Considering how much damage it could cause just from the side effect of its power, the possibility is endless. " Then Kiritsugu turned a suspicious eye at me."But you sure are sharp to be thinking that in a situation like this. Are you sure you're an amateur?"

"..."

Honestly? I hardly believe I was able to keep my thoughts in order like this. Seeing the dead everywhere should be a scene harsh enough to drive my mind crazy and gave me a distressing desire to run away as far as I can.

But strangely I don't think my mind is going crazy, I don't even have the slightest impulse on running away. It's the opposite, I think I'm actually... calm? No, not that. My heart is still pounding like hell whenever one of those deads came at me. There's no way this emotion can be called calm. I'm scared as hell, but somehow... somehow, instead of causing my brain to freeze up in panic, it jolted up my brain into overdrive.

Fear of death giving more neural shots of adrenaline boost? Some kind of twisted, distorted resolution that forcibly ignores the nauseating stench of dead? No, it's not something that simple.

Damn it. This is getting nowhere. Let's just ignore it for now.

"Whatever, that's not important now." Kiritsugu also said as he seemed to agree with the sentiment to drop the subject.

"So what do we do now? We can't get through without getting ourselves eaten alive."

"Don't worry. I have something in mind."

"And that is...?"

"It's not common knowledge, but plenty of dangerous materials could be found after a fire. The details are a bit too much, but several common household materials can be very dangerous after the continuous absorption oxygen and exudation of carbon dioxide." He explained. "Like fine-arts painting with certain paint that can grow poisonous molds after an intense heat or a water-filled glass pitcher that can be a ticking time bomb that will explode deadly shards once the water inside reaches a certain boiling point and the glass reaches the limit of its thermal insulation. This is the reason why firemen kept a building under quarantine for several hours even though the fire has been extinguished."

And in a fire as big as this one, there are plenty hazardous materials that can be used a weapon.

"I see, I get the idea. But how you could know such a dangerous trivia is making your image a lot scarier than those gatherings of undead, you scary old man."

"For example, the ashes that melds with human remains. They can make good material as an effective poison with magecraft. Another example is the scorched steel from the remains of burnt down old buildings." Kiritsugu continued to explain as he ignored my last comment. "The rust from the aged building combined with the heat of the flame can form tiny shards of crystals containing small amount of liquid with subtle similar-to-cyanide properties."

"Is that what you're about to use? Then I stand corrected, you are one scary old man."

"No, what I am about to use is nothing too complicated like that."

When I heard what he is planning, I agree it wasn't anything that complicated.

But, in a certain way, the thing is a hell of a lot more dangerous than poisonous molds or natural cyanides.

**(Half an Hour Later)**

"...Unbelievable." I muttered slowly as I watched his plan came into fruition.

It was the gas pipeline underneath the city.

It would have been difficult to reach the gas pipeline under normal circumstances but the current situation where everything is a blasted ruin made it easier. Using an empty wine bottle as a gas container might be impossible using science logic but simple magic (I don't know if magic could be called simple) can fix that. Add in the dusty socks we found lying around as the plug and set the tip of the sock on fire. And there, we have our own homemade makeshift hand grenade like a molotov.

The result was an obvious mess of body parts.

"It works. Now let's get moving. The explosion can only get so much. The other undeads are going to plug the hole soon."

"A-Alright."

Travelling around in a place like this is already a horror, but it is people like him that makes the entire experience truly terrifying.

* * *

**System Log: Distant Eagle B22 Observation System. Rampart Access 220381039.**

_[23:49:17] Incoming connection from :28299_

_[23:49:18] Incoming connection from :12581_

_[23:49:20] Incoming connection from :60966_

_[23:49:21] Incoming connection from :26814_

_- Executing command shift E5402.- Footage #07 taken._

_- Compiling data of Footage #07._

_- Compilation of Footage #07 using local data failed._

_- Compiling data of Footage #07 using Second Magic._

_- Footage #07 compiled._

_- Identified subjects within vicinity of Fuyuki Park and the artifact Holy Grail based on Footage #07:_

_Kamijou Touma/ Kiritsugu Emiya/ Waver Velvet/ Shirou Emiya/_

_[23:49:22] Incoming connection from :23461_

_[23:49:23] Incoming connection from :62345_

_- 8 subjects remain unidentified._

_- Using the basis of Horus Link and Second Magic to create possible assumption._

_- 119.384.753 possible assumption found._

_- Narrowing possible assumptions based on the condition of Delta World, Horus Link and Second Magic calculation._

_- Narrowed to 78.104.203 possible assumption/_

_- Narrowed to 10.230.421 possible assumption/_

_- Narrowed to 2.942.122 possible assumption/_

_- Narrowed to 1.002.308 possible assumption/_

_- Narrowed to 534.193 possible assumption/_

_- Narrowed to 189.117 possible assumption/_

_- Narrowed to 74.272 possible assumption/_

_- Narrowed to 3.413 possible assumption/_

_- Narrowed to 527 possible assumption/_

_- Narrowed to 23 possible assumption/_

_- Narrowed to 8 possible assumption/_

_- Identification results for 8 unidentified subjects based on Footage #07 have been found:_

_Irisviel Von Einzbern/ Diarmuid Ua Duibhne/ Iskander/ Gilles De Rais/ Lancelot/ Hassan-i Sabbah/ Angra Mainyu/ Ma!iH#(791uknskxmeoq9103,s sm; kus34e10Lwap290sjml;LW2Gp0soI m910qZ83lWii_ _wg981lgtj_ _3SxvAdv8q_

_Error._

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**_Don't Look at What You Can't See._**

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_[23:49:31] Syntax Error. Uplink Malfunctioned._

_[23:49:31] Forming Hypothesis based on local information._

_[23:49:31] Formed Hypothesis B1-B72._

_[23:49:31] Possible explanation on irregularities found on Hypothesis B22 with 92,7% possibility._

_[23:49:31] Checking irregularities to confirm Hypothesis B22._

_[23:49:32] Hypothesis B22 confirmed._

_[23:49:32] Subject 0 is verified to be on scene._

_[23:49:33] Checking mission parameter._

_[23:49:32] 2nd Primary Objective of DISTANT EAGLE B22 Observation System completed._

_[23:49:33] Disabling Connection._

_[23:49:34] [Connection Disabled]_

* * *

**(Kamijou Touma)**

We've finally arrived in the center of the problem.

To be more accurate we're standing at the edge of a big crater formed around the mass of flesh with a high steep slope and a large amount of water pouring from the mass of flesh, creating an artificial lake with an unknown depth from the base of the crater.

However, my attention was not directed to those troublesome and worrying details.

"What... is that?"

You know, I think I've lost count of how many times I said that line.

But this time, despite standing right in front of a sickening giant mass of flesh in the middle of a sticky and gooey large pool, I was not referring that in disgust.

In the middle of that disgusting mass of flesh was a shot of light beaming towards the sky like a pure white tower.

We could see that before, but now that we've gotten closer, we've discovered something even more surprising than before.

It was a pure white woman.

In the center of that tower of light is a naked pale white woman with white hair and an excellent body figure that would have aroused my teenager's heart if this entire place weren't so full of death.

As for Kiritsugu-san...

"Iri...?"

It was said in a very slow noise but the tremor in that voice and his trembling hands was saying something.

"You knew her?"

"..."

_No answer. Way to go, 's just staring at her blankly._

I can't really tell what had happened before since everyone from the nasty old man to the dark-and-glum Kiritsugu was being much, much too sketchy but I think something terrible of a great magnitude must have happened in this place.

It truly made me feel like an outsider, being the only clueless person around but I can't waste my thoughts there. I have something I need to do. So...

"Kiritsugu..."

I called out to the only person that can explain what is going on to me without any respectful honorifics with the coldest voice I could muster.

I could say something like 'Are you just going to stand there?' or 'Are you going to do something about it?' but I am not about to waste my breath.

We both understand the situation well enough to know that every second we waste could mean another person dying somewhere in the globe.

"..."

It was a movement similar like a slow-motion picture, but Kiritsugu turned to look at me.

I have a feeling it was not a very pleasant expression to look at so I'm not going to bother. Instead, I looked into the giant mass of flesh sitting on this lake-filled crater.

"We need to find a way to get there without getting our feet wet. I don't like falling into a ditch if I can't help it. And I have a bad feeling about this water."

Unexpectedly, I have made a fatal mistake...

I should have looked at Kiritsugu when I had the chance.

If I did I would have noticed the black liquid dripping from his chest.

* * *

**(?)**

In a pitch black darkness in the middle of nowhere, there was a girl.

Or to be precise, there was a creature that was once a girl.

Her story was not an easy one. But then again life rarely is.

There was once a conflict called the Holy Grail War.

This girl was a participant of it, one of the people called Master with a Servant by her side.

Together, they fought against six other pairs of Masters and Servants.

Inhuman fights, silencing innocent witnesses, making unlikely alliance, assassinations, back alley deals, taking hostages, nasty schemes and plots.

She had seen it all. She had done it all.

And then she reached the prize on top of the mountain pile of corpses.

But she didn't get to grab it with her hands.

Her Servant. Her most trusted partner betrayed her.

Sickened at how easily she dredged through the chaos and bloodshed she made, he stabbed her with his legendary sword in the chest and threw her into the abyss made by the power of her prize.

Make no mistake though, even if she was betrayed, she held no grudge against her Servant.

He was a man of his ideals. Even if it was pointless, even if it was impossible, what good would someone be without a principle or something to live for? That is no better than living the life of a walking dead.

For that girl, the way her Servant lived for his ideals amidst the bloody chaos he'd thrown himself into was something akin to a diamond made in the middle of a volcano.

Besides, she could not say that she hated the place she was thrown into.

This pitch black darkness and nothingness is not something she was afraid of.

Darkness and blood was her domain after all.

It was like a house she had grew so fond of.

So, she leisurely spent her time in that deadly silence that had driven anyone else into madness and death.

The time she had spent there was more than several hundred years.

But then, one time, she noticed something strange in her 'house'.

From a logical stand of view, it is impossible for anyone to notice anything in such darkness with zero visibility.

But for that girl who had lived in the dark for so long, it was something almost natural like a fashion maniac finding a missing button in a jacket.

She felt something shifted slightly in that place.

It was like an even deeper darkness has found its way in into that already dark place.

And that something is...

* * *

**(3rd Person)**

When he said her name longingly, Kiritsugu's heart stopped.

No, no, you don't get it.

It was not a figure of speech, nor was it a hyperbole version of a saying.

His heart truly, really has stopped.

It was common knowledge that a human being needed a constant flow of blood in their system, whether for breathing or for circulation of protein, it is the second most vital organ besides the brain, and despite his aversion as a magus this fact has remained true. Aside from Time Alter, Kiritsugu did not possess a special magecraft that allowed his body to go much more beyond the limits of human after all.

Before the invention of CPR or defibrillators, the moment the heart has stopped beating is already a condition akin to death. Even when they are already invented, a set time limit in the number of seconds is needed as the time interval before the lack of blood in the brain tissue will cause an irreparable and ultimately deathly cerebral damage. The victim would have fallen down the floor seconds after the cardiac arrest and if help is not received within seconds after then the victim would have surely died.

But...

He still stood up.

Not even a hint of unconsciousness was visible.

"...Kiritsugu."

A horribly cold voice came from beside.

The boy named Kamijou Touma was looking at him warily with a visible irritation in his face.

He must have been annoyed by how he was continuously dragged into this while still being kept mostly in the dark.

In a movement similar to a slow-motion picture, Kiritsugu turned to look at the boy.

That action was physically impossible without a flowing blood vessel constantly pumped from a beating heart.

Yes, it was physically impossible.

Someone or something has rewritten the norms of the impossible and entered its own ideal measures of possibilities.

Kamijou Touma has failed to notice the changes.

It was even doubtful that the man he was talking to was still 'Kiritsugu Emiya'.

"We need to find a way to get there without getting our feet wet. I don't like falling into a ditch if I can't help it. And I have a bad feeling about this water."

His mistake would be something the world has to pay.

* * *

**(Kamijou Touma)**

I may have mentioned it before, but I'll clarify again. That mass of flesh surrounding the white light with the pure white woman in the center was also surrounded by a pool of water. The water was not gathered with a light slope like you'd expect to see in a beach or lake resort, instead the height of the landscape was changed rather drastically since the spot I'm standing here turned into a steep slope with the pool and the mass of flesh on the lower terrain.

Explaining more might be difficult since Komoe-sensei kept crying about my geography score so I'll keep it simple. If you want to get to the mass of flesh, you have to walk your way through the pool and if you want to get into the pool, you have to jump from a 10 meters high 'cliff' into a water with a probable depth of 3 meters.

Normally that won't be a problem since the water can act as a cushion, but this world seems to be trying hard to make my life miserable. That pool of water has the smell of iron rust that made it pretty sure that the water was something suspiciously similar to blood.

This park, or what's left of it, was not a place where water could suddenly flow and gathered in a wide area and with a depth just as high as my knee like this. This water does not only smell disgusting, the entirety of it is extremely ominous. It's definitely supernatural in nature. Who knows what kind of effect this water has.

Of course, none of this observation would have worth a damn when I'm in this state.

"…Wait. Why…are you…doing this…!?"

Here's the situation.

I was attacked from behind and I had fallen to the ground.

By the time I realized who the attacker was, he had already pressed his weight on me and used his burly hard hands to grasp my neck.

"E...miya-san! Grkh... dammit. Stop this!"

Yes, that was who the attacker was.

Kiritsugu Emiya had an expressionless look on his face as he continues choking me.

_Damn it! He's not listening!_

I moved my mouth, hastily seeking air.

A strangulation is a nasty business, someone on the level of a street thugs can use it effectively to intimidate poor, lonely passerby and get some easy money, but when a cold-blooded professional was using it, you can be sure that you're facing a monster almost equal to the hug of a giant black bear.

And Kiritsugu was the first person to have ever given me the stench of this dark side of humanity.

"Arrghh...! Grk...! Grkhh...!"

Eventually, blood left a certain location in my neck, giving it the color of blue hue.

Talking became impossible.

No matter how much I struggled. No matter how hard I tried. I could not find a leeway. I could not find a single opening that an amateur like me could use.

This is a professional.

This is a true killer.

_Not... good! I'm... losing consciousness!_

It was then that my eyes caught a glimpse of something in Kiritsugu's trousers pocket.

Simply put...

It's the makeshift grenade from before. Kiritsugu must have made another one as backup.

_Well! Here goes nothing!_

Instead of pushing my legs to throw him off like Kiritsugu might expect, I used my strength to push his right leg upward so that his knee would bent into an L-shape. I was not aiming to throw off his weight, even with that slight advantage we're still too mismatched in terms of strength. No, I was aiming for his pocket.

Eventually, with one fell swoop, the makeshift grenade easily fell into the ground.

I could not make the makeshift grenade explode since my hands were held down so I can't ignite the fuse and I definitely can't use any wonderful supernatural powers to make it explode from a distance. Except for this hand, I'm an ordinary high school student remember? Besides, if it explodes doesn't that mean that I'll be caught in the blast too?

Really now, don't expect me to do something mind blowing all of a sudden. It's just simple psychology. When someone sees something they recognize as dangerous, someone would definitely turn their attention into that dangerous item. From what I can guess, it won't work on professional because their mental process would ignore all distraction classified as meaningless since the simplest of distraction could end their lives.

In other words...

I'm betting on the fact that Kiritsugu was being controlled by someone and that someone is not as professional as he is!

"...!"

It was just an instant, but I could see a note of urgency in his eyes. It didn't even last a single second though.

But that was enough.

That less than a single second was all the time I need!

"Uoooooooooooohhhhhh!"

I let out a pointless scream.

What's not pointless was that in the single second of it, I've managed to wrestle myself out of his death grip. I completed my assault by kicking at his leg while lying on the ground before getting myself up.

He had lost his balance for a moment and in that moment I've finally stand up a distance away and regained mine.

"..."

"..."

The two of us stared at each other in complete silence.

For my case, it wasn't such a cool thing like 'gauging' each other off or something so hyped up like that. It was because I have no idea what to say or what had happened to Kiritsugu Emiya.

Did he suddenly decide to betray me for some reason or another? Was he being controlled by some unknown third party? Considering the recent craziness I've being seeing, it wasn't that much of a farcry.

Thinking back, I may have already overwritten the idea of betrayal after that amateurish psychological attack was successful but one can have his doubts. It's possible that I have completely missed something important.

Either way.

Whatever the answer was...

I get a strange feeling this won't end unless one of us is dead.

This kind of bad feeling clouded over my mind.

I am no professional fighters but my instinct as someone that had fought supernatural espers and ended up in ridiculous situations before had told me that this is the worst possible situation where someone will definitely end up dead.

_Not good. This is not good! No matter how much I try, I can't find a way that would let me forcefully restrain Emiya-san for long. I've seen how he fought before. His fighting style that directly target vitals are so insane that I'm starting to think his style is illegal!_

There is also a spy back in Academy City named Tsuchimikado Motoharu who uses a similar style of martial arts compiled from several illegal and deadly moves. He is also his roommate and an active member of Academy City's dark side but it was not yet time for Kamijou to learn about it.

_I don't have too many chances of going up against him directly. Not without a plan or something that can confirm his weakness or how he was controlled. Right now, the best option I have is to retreat into somewhere safe._

But then...

Just as I was thinking the safest way to pull out from the fight.

"What? ...Eh?"

Kiritsugu jumped from the cliff.

"W-What the hell is he doing?!"

He dived from the cliff headfirst into the pitch black water making up the surroundings of the mass of flesh.

_I can't let him go. I don't know why. I don't know why! But something bad will happen if I let him out of my sight!_

Reflexively thinking like that, I jumped from the cliff into the pool after him. I slid down from smooth part of the slope and once the steep part of the slope was visible, I jumped in after him.

That became a deadly mistake.

"Gkh?! Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Just as soon as I jumped into the pool, my legs that were deeply immersed in the water with rusty smell were suddenly burning like it was melting.

In fact, some kind of smoke seeped out from it. So melting is not so far of a description.

The water was pitch black and it was quite normal in the night. But if I had taken more notice then I would have realized there was something unnatural about it. Logically, it could have been just the lack of lighting from the night sky that made the water looks black but that doesn't seem to be the case. The red moon was shining so bright and the flickering lights from the flames were everywhere and yet _the water was entirely pitch black without a single reflection of a single light_.

It was almost like the water was made up of a black liquid that swallowed all source of light in the area.

That was when I realized just how dangerous this pool of water is.

It was similar to cooking oil being heated up in a frying pan.

A frying pan which I just stepped into.

The main dish is fresh human meat.

"Fbgyaaaahhhhhhh! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!"

Kamijou Touma the main course screamed something.

A small part of me wondered just how many times I screamed like this ever since I got here.

The logical choice would be to climb back up to the dry land behind but the pain blanks out my mind. I was unable to endure it and my body fell fully into the water.

My right hand came in first.

I can't believe I had it, but that was my one stroke of luck.

If my head came in first even for a single second then I would have received an instant death with my brain turned into shishkebab.

My right hand that negates the supernatural came into contact with the water.

And with the sound of broken glass, the pain and the hissing noise that sounded suspiciously like my flesh being cooked suddenly disappeared.

The pool of water itself does not disappear, but the stench and the frying pan-like traits of the water does. I probably negated some curse within the water or something.

I slowly regained my control over my legs. However my lack of proper breathing before falling into the water launched me into a panicked gasps and I hurriedly raised myself from the water.

"Cough, cough... damn it... that... what the hell was that?! What kind of water is this? Don't tell me this is the same just like the black flame from back then!"

The entire ordeal lasted not less than 3 seconds.

But my legs felt like it was roasted for a month and it were stinging like crazy.

It made me shivered just how lucky I am to have this hand. If I don't have this right hand, my entire body would have ended up like a sirloin steak in a hot pot.

But...

At any rate.

Something worrying has dawned upon my thoughts.

"Kiritsugu-san... jumped in first, didn't he?"

That's right, he jumped into the water.

But as I watched over him, he continued walking slowly not very far in front of me into the mass of flesh hindered only by the water current as if that was the only thing bothering him.

So why is he okay with that? Why is he okay with this frying pan-like water that can cook human meat and turn it into juicy corpse? How can he walk with his legs burned out from the inside out? Is he the type of a super soldier that can dull any pain? Is there a magic he used to protect himself?

_...No, I'm not an expert, but it's more like..._

It's more like he doesn't feel any pain at all.

Does that mean this cursed frying pan-like water is a picky type that chooses its prey?

But again, I'm no expert of magic, and despite having lived in Academy City I'm also not an expert in psychic powers, but considering what happened so far and from what Kiritsugu explained about the Angra Mainyu curse then it feels like...

It feels like his body was already part of the curse.

_Cursed black flame that can transform, cursed water that cooks people alive. What's up with these curses!? Isn't this just the worse?! Getting caught up in something completely dangerous but having no idea how or why it is precisely dangerous is really a pain! Why am I so unlucky?!_

Listing in my head the increasingly complicated situation I've gotten myself into, I can't help but launch a tirade of protests to whatever higher power ruled this world from the deepest core within my heart.

_Alright, let's focus on stopping him. Emiya-san is definitely not in his right mind. Whatever is going on here, I doubt something good will happen if I leave him be._

With that in mind, I was about to hurriedly run over to snap the old man out with a good hard punch.

And then...

Just for a few seconds.

I heard the sound of splashing water.

_What was that?!_

I quickly turned my head around into a place where I believed was the origin of the sound (at least I thought it was).

There was nothing there, but an odd anxiety was slowly forming. That strange feeling of unnatural fear set their roots again within my heart.

Normally, I won't be too surprised. It could have been debris that fell into the water or something similar.

But I can feel it though.

It's like I was a rabbit surrounded by a pack of hyenas.

Something dangerous is approaching.

And without any warning, they appeared.

My legs, which were previously almost burned like fried chicken, were suddenly pulled from under the water.

Naturally, as part of the laws of gravity, my entire body was also dragged down into the water.

"Gbrgh..! Gbrgl...!"

I was unprepared so my breathing got terribly messed up by the water. Even my vision got blurred. My eyes were getting the irritation from the dirt mixed up with the muddy water.

Meanwhile, something that grabbed my legs pulled me deeper into the water with intense speed.

I immediately began flailing my arms around in panic but I couldn't find anything to grab into. It's barely past a few seconds but it's already getting harder and harder to breathe so my panic meter went overdrive.

What do you expect? I'm not an Olympic swimmer or an undercover special agent. I'm just a high school student. And like every normal high school student that suddenly get caught up into ridiculous life or death situations like these (if there are others to begin with), I panicked. I frantically struggled against the pull and move every single part of my body erratically.

I couldn't believe it happened again but that became another stroke of luck.

In panic, my right hand touched something that pulled me into the water.

All of a sudden, that something loses its grip and I was able to break free.

With the water pressure no longer against me, I was finally able to see my underwater assaulter.

It was a girl.

Specifically, it was a dead girl with one eye. Her skull was barely visible and half of her jaw was missing.

_Shit! An undead?!_

And the worst part is? She was not alone.

_No, not just that girl. A whole pack of them!?_

Standing up from the water, I finally regained the much needed oxygen but the panic did not stop.

That's because I realized I was cornered.

Dozens of them rises from the depth, standing to face their prey.

Dozens others were submerged underwater, waiting for the right moment to strike.

This pool of black water was the domain of the dead.

They were the hunters that stalk the living.

They were the predators of this flooded hell.

_Fuck this! This is really fucking unlucky!_

Going back is no longer an option. I can't climb through the steep slope without falling back into the water, a professional climber or an athlete might be able to manage but for the hundredth times, I'm just a high school student! Don't expect me to do something incredible like those professionals!

Be that as it may, I didn't miss one important detail.

None of them were going after Kiritsugu Emiya.

Their only prey was Kamijou Touma.

The immense hatred of the dead is directed to no one but me.

A swarm of monsters coming to kill me and only me.

_Did Kiritsugu set this up? No, as strange as he was, that guy was hell bent on stopping this. Something must have happened. That strange reaction when he saw that woman must have been the trigger. But for what? How? By whom? Damn it! I don't have enough clues! What the hell is going on?!_

Unexpectedly...

The answer came all of a sudden.

"Simple. It's a classic Trojan horse trap."

It was a voice that came out of nowhere.

It was the voice of a girl.

I turned my head into the steep slope where I fell before and I saw the existence of a girl sitting leisurely on the corner of the slope.

And before you ask, no, unlike before, she is not an undead. But a real living, breathing little girl.

She was a short blonde girl wearing white blouse that looks like a pretty summer dress.

She looked like she was 10.

She was childishly moving her legs about on top of the 'cliff' like Otohime usually does at the dinner table while happily humming a cheerful tune.

The display was so lovely and innocent that I almost forgot about what kind of place this is.

I was the one that travelled across a dimension but she was the real alien in this place of violence.

Even though I thought of her as an alien, that little girl that is not supposed to belong in this place looked strangely at home with all this madness.

...Wait.

Huh...?

Unknowingly, I was clenching my right hand and focused my enmity on the little girl.

Why did I do that?

There is a group of undead behind me and the one I'm facing is just a little girl.

It was obvious which should I clench my right for and which should I fight to protect.

And yet... why? Why am I focusing on this little girl _as if_ _she was a bigger danger than the undead_?

"Ah, you have good instinct. I guess you aren't just an amateur after all."

Despite the fact that I was raising my guard, she seemed to be enjoying herself more and more.

And what she said...

An amateur.

I recalled the dusty middle-aged man (who looked strangely older than he is) that seemed to be immersing himself in this darkness called magic and had said to me how someone like that would only get in the way.

Which means...

"Are you... a magician?!"

"Well, of course I am. I thought that was plenty obvious. Ah, the right term is magus. Please remember that, amateur. Hm? Ah, wait." She stroked her chin like she was reconsidering some fact. "Since I can use a form of true magic now, does that mean I'm a true magician? Hmm... well, I guess I am. So yes, I'm a magician. Yes, yes, I'm a magician. Don't mistake me with a magus, amateur."

That was an unexpectedly overly complicated answer.

"First you said, you're a magus not a magician. Then you said you're a magician not a magus. So which one are you exactly?"

"Huh, you really are an amateur through and through." She muttered lowly. "But don't worry Onii-chan! Given how special your dispositions are, you will be forced by the increasingly dangerous situation you will have to keep up and level up or you'll die in a ditch somewhere! So don't worry just because you're still on level 1! Every journey starts somewhere!"

She said that with an extravagant pose and a cute wink.

That was the first time I heard a cute girl calling me Onii-chan (besides Otohime and an eight years old girl around my neighborhood) but my mood is the total opposite of happiness.

I can honestly say I have never been so terrified of something my life.

I know it sounds ridiculous, I've never heard of someone ever gotten so scared of a little girl before and if I'd heard the story of someone who does then I would have laughed at someone so pathetic like it was a comedy show.

Well, this is Kamijou Touma and I'm scared of this little girl. Don't imagine this as comedy, it's full on horror now.

I don't understand why, but everything about her scares me. She had an adorable face like a porcelain doll and a dress that reminded me of a princess. But every single cell in my body is screaming at me in complete and utter panic.

You could say it was a basic survival instinct like when someone suddenly encounters a shark at the ocean or someone suddenly seeing a serial killer with blood spluttered all over his clothes.

Then again, it would have been better if it was just that. This unreasonable level of fear goes way beyond that.

The thought of fighting or running away never came.

If she is going to kill me, then I will die. My basic human instinct could not come up with some form of hope that would let me survive this encounter. My thought process is not even working in that direction. _It's as if it was a 100% chance that I would die no matter what I do if she decided to kill me_.

If I was thinking straight, I would have thought why do I think she is going to kill me? She had no logical reason to do so. If she is an indiscriminate murderer, she wouldn't take the time to talk to me and just do the deed. How is she going to kill me anyway? She doesn't look like she had a great physical strength, so the only possible way to do so is with magic. My right hand could handle that. So there is nothing to fear. In fact, _why do I even think in the direction that that girl would kill me?_

This is why this fear goes beyond a simple fear.

Unlike facing wild beasts, this is like a mere human looking into a group of giant meteorites that were about to crash into planet Earth and destroy the world like in the sci-fi movies.

Those meteorites have no reason it would want to destroy the Earth, but it simply does because Earth was in the direction of its course. It was in its nature. And its nature would destroy the world. It was simply like that.

There is no point in fighting.

There is no point in hiding.

There is no point in running.

You can only froze in place.

It's already over the moment it happened, it's already over the moment I met her, so there is no point in trying to resist. That's what my miniscule subconscious that made up the human survival instinct is telling me.

This little girl is the type of monster that would destroy the world simply because she exists.

Actually...

Is she even a little girl in the first place?

If she is such an unnatural existence, then could this girl be the culprit behind all of this?

"You... just... what are you...?" I managed to squirm out a few words.

"What do you mean 'what'? ...Ah, you're not thinking something rude like I was the one behind all this aren't you?"

For an instant...

My blood stopped moving for an instant.

"Of course I'm not. I'm just a passing spectator like you." She answered with that out-of-place cute smile. A small part of me considered heaving a sigh of relief, but her next words dashed out any hope of that. "C'mon now, Onii-chan, I'm not so tasteless. _If I was the one behind this, then the scope of destruction would have been a lot bigger than just the entire world."_

Right, this girl is really creepy. I'm starting to freak out here!

_Okay, what to say next? I have to plan this out carefully. This girl is obviously deadly and something tells me she won't hesitate to kill me if I do or say anything wrong. Crap, it's like walking in the middle of a landmine._

_...Wait, what was that about Trojan horse?_

"H-hey, do you know what is happening here? What did you mean by Trojan horse?"

"Hmm? You don't know about the Battle of Troy? Well, it started with some prince called Paris falling in love with-..."

"No no no no no, not that. I mean, what does it have to do with Kiritsugu-san and and that woman?"

"Exactly the same with the story." She said with a matter-of-fact tone while puffing up her (rather underdeveloped) chest. "Odysseus sent the Trojan horse filled with soldiers as a gift to penetrate the defenses of Troy and open its gates. That man there..." She pointed into Kiritsugu. "...is used as a bait to tempt the Lesser Grail to 'open the gate', so to speak. He seems to be someone precious to her, maybe she was his wife or something, and yet his heart and mind is completely broken down and dominated by the corruption."

"'It' lost 'its' control over the Grail and is now slowly dying." She explained for a bit but then she shook her head. "I don't know how the Lesser Grail managed to detach itself from the Holy Grail mechanisms though... or how it could manifest in this world in its original human form when every cell of the woman that made up the Lesser Grail should have been broken down to the very limit. Either way, what matters is that every single living being has the basic desire to survive. Because of that, 'It' is desperately trying to reconnect itself to the Lesser Grail like a fish trying to get back to the water. Do you understand now?"

Of course I don't.

_What does she mean by 'It'? Lesser Grail? Corruption? I don't understand a single phrase of what you're saying!_

That girl must not have noticed my confusion or she decided to ignore it or maybe she just doesn't care because she kept on talking in full speed.

"'It' should have died a long time ago back when the Greater Grail was broken or when this amateur Onii-chan confronted him with that right hand, but this strange power seems to be backing him up from below. Come to think of it, what is up with that right hand? I can't sense anything from it. That's weird because I can clearly sense a soul within that boy, so he's not something like a Dead Apostle but why can't I read anything from it? The reading of the flow of the soul got disrupted once it reached the right hand. Don't tell me that hand is something belonging to a dead man. But it looks very much alive, so which is it? Honestly, I've been encountering nothing but strange things since the Grail brought me here. A rift within the worlds, the Wizard Marshall's interference, the strange right hand, a congregation of strange energy, a horde of undead with signatures of a cursed being... well, contrary to what I expected, that is not the same kind of curse like that gathering of evil... Angra Mainyu, was it? I think that's the name. If I recall, that was the name of a Persian God of Evil. Summoning pure deities should be impossible, even with the Holy Grail of my world but considering how it got summoned by the Grail, I'm guessing it was actually a person rather than a god. The Persian God of Evil bits might be something the people added to spice up his legend. Wow, I wonder what happened to him to be the vessel of so much evil yet still reached the Throne of Heroes as a Heroic Spirit. Heh, it's not like I can't guess what happened, it's not that easy to gather a World's Worth of Evil and nobody is crazy enough to do that by himself. I'm guessing some cruel, selfish people decided to turn him into a scapegoat to bear those sins. The main mystery here is the sins itself. That is the power source of Angra Mainyu, and these undead seems to be his puppet, I can see the prana thread flowing from their bodies to that giant blob... but this power I sensed surrounding those deads? It's... much more malicious...? No, more like it was more obscured. Like the silhouette of a person at night or a hooded figure viewed from a dark place. This is all really, really strange, but that is also interesting in their own way. I don't know what to expect at first when I came here, but this is so exciting!"

"...What?"

I get the feeling that she just said a lot of important things but I missed it completely with how fast she said it.

"Ah, nothing, nothing! Seems like I got myself deep in thought."

She waved around his hand to emphasize the meaning but it looks incredibly childish and anyone would have put on a smile on how cute it was.

Not that I'm smiling though, this deadly pressure in my chest is still very much alive and the thoughts on how cute or childish it looks got overwritten by the intense beating in my chest.

Then I noticed something was strange.

Or rather, something was lacking.

That dreadful atmosphere where I would choke my breath just by living had changed.

It became even worse.

_How long have we been talking?_

That was why I noticed the absurdity.

_This is weird... this is really weird! I let my guard down. I've been letting my guard down this entire time! But why didn't it happen?! The length and duration we were talking should have been enough time for the undead to come charging at me, so why aren't they?! They've been attacking me relentlessly all over the corner before, so why aren't-...!"_

During that period of thoughts, the focus of my attention changed from the little girl to my surroundings.

_The waves of the water under my legs have stopped... that flickering flame from the ruins too... and those must be the dust rolling down from the edge of the cliff..._

I slowly turned around to face the undead predators and found something similar.

_Those undeads too... not just them, even Kiritsugu-san, the disgusting giant pile of meat and the shining white light... all of them got affected..._

And slowly, I began to understand what the change was...

Rather than a 'change', I should be calling it a 'pause'.

An impossible pause with the world on the line.

I yelled at the only possible culprit that caused the abnormality.

"You...! What in the world did you do?"

"Isn't it obvious?" She simply answered.

She gave a simple smile and a simple answer.

"_I merely stopped the flow of time a bit. It wouldn't do if you suddenly got killed while I was talking to you._"

She said it so simply.

She said it so easily.

She said it as if she was pausing a movie with a remote.

She said it as if stopping time needed nothing more than the push of a button.

"Oh, don't be so tense all of a sudden. If someone should be surprised, it should be me." She said with a furrowed brow. "After all, I thought I should put on an 'exception' on you to have this talk, but you were completely unaffected."

The girl suddenly raises her right hand, and white swirling orbs appeared from her palm.

"You see, amateur. From mundane everyday things to the supernaturals. From humans to gods. From magic to vampires. From ice cream sundae to strawberry cakes with creams on top. Time is one of the single, most absolute forces of the universe. It applies to all of them. It applies to everyone and _everything_."

She stressed out the last word with a deep tone and an intimidating glare that looks really cute despite how scary it look and overall they gave off the aura of a dominatrix mistress.

Wait, did I hear something about cakes?

It was no time to ponder about useless things because the cold air suddenly hissed around me like a sword was strained under my neck.

"Do you even understand...?"

She said in a low, low voice like a whisper.

"Do you understand the significance of me having a question?"

She said in a soft, soft tone like a whimper.

"I have reached the Root of Akasha."

She raised her left hand and black swirling orbs appeared in contrast to the white one from her right palm.

"I have seen the Truth of the Worlds."

The two black and white orbs 'fused' and forms a huge swirl that looked like a hole had opened in the earth taken into a spherical form.

Even an amateur in magic like me can tell I'll get squashed to pieces if I came in contact with that anomaly.

"Yet, even with all that... even with all that infinite knowledge. With all that knowledge poured out into my head so much that I cannot recognize my own soul. I cannot see the fate of this world we came into. I cannot see the fate of your world from where you belong. Something has tampered with the unbreakable system called Gaia and Alaya. Something has altered the untouchable Records. Something has changed the unchangeable writings called Fate.

"And that something was centered on you."

She ended with a face completely full with emotion that mere mortals are impossible to understand.

She spoke like Death speaking directly to Life.

"So how did you do it? How did you cast yourself off the flow of time? How did you overwrite the unbreakable illusion called fate? Did you cut out pieces of your body and soul and spread it into multiple time domains to create a sense of omnipotence? Did you alter your body into something inhuman that did not exist within law of the world to throw the flow of time off-balance like water pollution? Did you create a spiral paradox within your mind to adjust yourself within the flow? So tell me, which one is it? Which one did you use? I just can't figure it out."

"..."

I don't know most of what she's talking about or what the details are but I might have an idea why, although the description of her suspicions was so farfetched from logic and science that I went utterly speechless.

...Actually, are those really ridiculous things really possible with magic?

...

...

...

That's it. I give up. Let's just hurry up and stop this madness and head home, maybe I can salvage what's left of my sashimi fiesta.

Ah, I forgot. My apartment got blown up.

Along with my bed, my TV, my computer, my kitchen, my wallet, my books, my (recently finished) homeworks, and a bunch of other stuff I had spent so many years saving my allowance to buy.

...

...

Sigh...

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH! FUKOUUUUUUUU DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

- - - - - - - - - is what I wanted to scream out, but I suppressed the urge and merely shed a few pitiful tears. I don't want my character to drop even lower from the loser it has become.

The girl might be used to seeing people quivering or wetting their pants in fear and several other levels of people degrading themselves before her as a pathetic being but she doesn't seem used to a level of pathetic where a boy suddenly crying manly tears with a stupid loser grin on his face because of how awkward her face suddenly turned.

"W-Wah! …Why are you suddenly crying?! D-Did I say something insensitive?"

"N-no, you didn't. It's not about that. "

But you did mention several unbelievably outrageous things, which in other situations would have counted as crazy talk, which is probably, might be, and most definitely, worse than 'insensitive'.

Speaking of which, that little girl kept a measuring gaze over me like a hawk eyeing a big, fat defenseless rat. I'm sure this too also counts as 'worse than insensitive', not to mention impolite, and I am also positively sure that I, Kamijou Touma, have become truly pathetic if a little girl's gaze was enough to make me squirm.

"Oh, well. I guess it's pointless asking you." She finally said after a long, hard stare. With the swirling of energy on top of her head completely dissipated. "An amateur like you wouldn't have known anything particularly significant after all, that middle aged man over there must be the one that modified your body as a test subject." That creepy little girl suddenly showed a cruel smile. "And I didn't detect any mind manipulating spells from your head either. That person must be truly skilled if he managed to do his experiments without the test subject ever noticing what he did."

...Err...what...?

"Very well then, amateur." The little girl said with a certain finality to it that reminded me like a queen announcing a decree. "I have decided to help you out. Just remember that your master owes me some answers in exchange for saving his sorry ass. The possibility of him creating a method of loophole on the Root is something I have to understand. I could just bring you with me and spend some time _thoroughly examining_ you..."

Umm... I don't like the way she said something about examination. And is it right for a little girl to be licking her lips like a wild amazoness seductress like that?

"-...But that would be inefficient. It wouldn't do it if that magus put on some methods of self protection on your body and caused it to explode from the inside out to prevent any... _foreign examination.._."

Again, that is just wrong! A little girl should not say examination with that strange gleam in her eyes! That's totally wrong! And why am I getting strangely excited by that?! That's even more wronger! For whatever gods currently up and about in this world, please don't turn me into a sexual deviant with a strange fetish for being dominated by a little girl. That is way too pathetic! That is the 'Mother of All Bad Endings'!

"-...And so, I have decided to help you out. Count yourself lucky amateur, I don't give a lot of charities to people." She paused for a minute. "Then again, I never give any charity to begin with. What did they say again, there's a first time for everything. You really have to count yourself lucky. The goddess of fortune is smiling on you."

Considering what happened, I'm sure it was a perfectly demonic cynical smile.

On to the more serious matter, I don't know what, why or how it happened but it seems like this little girl, um... magician, is willing to help me out. Maybe... kind of... sorta...

Again, I have a very bad feeling about this. I might as well say 'what could possibly go wrong?' and watch as everything around me hits rock bottom into the bottomless pit of misfortune.

"Oh, how rude of me." That little girl suddenly smiled. "I'm sure you must be wondering about the name of your beautiful savior, so I suppose an introduction is in order." said the little girl with a puffed out chest in pride like she was some kind of nobility addressing a commoner. "I am the winner of the Fourth Holy Grail War, the Magician that wields the Sixth Magic that controls flow of the world and the Sage who has reached the Endless Depth of the Root of Akasha.

"My name is Manaka Sajyou. Nice to meet you, amateur Onii-chan."

* * *

**(Kiritsugu Emiya)**

The killing had continued.

With bullets. With knives, with poisons, with explosives.

Piercing. Cutting apart. Burning. Drowning. Crushing.

He never doubted the meaning of it, not even once; he carefully conjectured the worth; the ones on the sunken side of the balance must be saved, and the other side must be emptied, so he killed. He kept killing, and killing, and killing.

Yes, that was correct. The many should be saved, and the sacrifices should be recognized. If the number of joys that were protected can go beyond the increasing number of misfortunes, then hasn't the world moved just a little closer to its salvation?

Even if innumerable corpses were accumulated at his feet.

As long as lives were saved. The ones that were protected were surely priceless.

Or is it truly so?

_Kerry, what kind of a man would you like to become?_

That was what someone far in his past had once said to him.

**There was not even a snowy landscape outside the window, but simply a swirling black mud, like the bottom of the sea.**

_"The way to save the world? Haven't you already understood that a long time ago? That is why I, as according to what you have built up, will inherit that nature, and achieve what you had prayed for."_

That was what something wearing the face of her wife had once spoken to him.

**His hands moved without faltering. Beneath the small chin of his beloved daughter pressed the muzzle his gun.**

_"What are, you...! Why did you... reject the Grail?! Reject us...! My Ilya... no... Why...?!"_

That was what something wearing the face of her wife had once spoken to him.

**The crimson eyes that would always look at him with nothing but affection and admiration were now painted by bottomless curses and resentment.**

_"Curse you... Emiya Kiritsugu... to pain... to regret until death... I will never forgive you...!"_

That was what something wearing the face of her wife had once spoken to him.

**The black mud that is circulating in his veins, the evil that had been flowing into his heart. They drenched the soul of the man who lost everything.**

_"I... will save the world."_

That was what he had responded with.

**The only thing left, persisting to the very end... was the words of his belief.**

How hollow those words were.

How can someone that cannot even save his wife save the world?

How can someone like that be called a hero?

Face it, a human can't save anyone except himself.

**_Do you understand now, Emiya Kiritsugu?_**

The ideals he had killed and shed his blood for was nothing but a conflicting and twisted sense of justice.

**_Saving another person solely for that other person's sake is nothing more than an excuse to walk into your own death._**

It was nothing more than an empty, failed ideal.

**_Pretty words like justice can't save anyone._**

The pillar of his existence has broken down and cannot be brought together.

As such, there was nothing more within the man called Kiritsugu Emiya.

It was impossible for there to be anything inside him now.

And so...

The shell of a man who was once called Kiritsugu Emiya slowly walked into the mass of flesh.

Clinging to nothing but the lingering echo that hails from the dark.

"Iri..."

The light that shone bright in front of him was merely a shell.

Inside, he could see a woman in white, a perfect resemblance with his wife, draped and covered with pure white light.

How dare she...?

How dare she imitate the most precious person he had ever lost?

From nothingness, came the pain.

From the pain, came a surge of anger.

**_If that is the case..._**

**_Then save her._**

**_Ravish her body. Corrupt her soul. Defile her heart. Consume her flesh. Devour her bones. End her! END HER PITIFUL EXISTENCE!_**

Voices inside his head. Voices inside his heart. Echoing. Screaming. All of them demanding something the shell of Emiya Kiritsugu could not understand.

**_Only then..._**

They grew stronger each time he heard them.

**_...Only then will she truly be saved._**

He still could not understand.

But still, he obeyed.

The mindless puppet slowly walked with torturous screams and manic laughter as the strings.

Slowly, other puppets rise as well from the depth of the water.

They can hear sound of the puppeteer laughing with glee.

One step.

Five steps.

Ten steps.

They walked together as one, with the only barely living puppet as the lead.

Their howling became a chorus.

The almost inaudible low sounds are destroying the last pieces of his sanity.

The mass of flesh stirred.

It stirred almost like it was excited.

It 'opened' itself in answer, with crunching sounds similar to a meat being grinded, revealing a pure white woman, huddling herself and floating within the white light shooting into the sky. The light itself 'chained' into the ground by red hot immaterial chains, like a bird wanting to be freed but refused to let go by its cage.

When he took the next step, the woman's eyes shot open.

The woman was not even sure whether she even knew him or not, but she can't help but smile when she saw his emotionless face.

She does not know who this man is but her heart that remembered him was already filled with longing.

She shed on tears of happiness like a love struck girl meeting her long lost lover.

Behind the man was supposed to be a scene enough to fill someone with caution or terror.

She ignored it all in favor of the one she had lost before.

It was as if the hundreds of grizzled and burnt corpses behind him did not enter her field of vision.

The puppet of a man raised his hands invitingly.

And the woman stretched her hands to accept the invitation.

But it was all a façade.

It was all just an illusion.

He was not the charming prince that will awake the princess from her slumber.

He was the poisonous apple prepared to put her in an eternal sleep.

One touch.

That was all it takes for the light to disappear.

That was all it takes to seal the bird into the cage forever.

When the puppet of a man touched the shining light, the brightness was distorted.

When the woman received his hands, it will all be over soon.

5 centimeters.

3 centimeters.

1 centimeter.

The distance of their hands was close enough it could barely be called a 'touch'.

The shadows twirled and dance along with the thunder as if they were giving off a shrill, mocking laugh as the dark illusion will soon become a twisted reality.

The worst possible ending has arrived.

But…

An instant before the end.

"Sorry to interrupt this faithful reunion, but I owe your husband a good punch in the face!"

A right hook hit the puppet of a man squarely in the face.

A single boy has entered the stage of puppets.

* * *

**(Manaka Sajyou)**

He might have stopped the Trojan Horse with some heroic lines, but here's what happened 3 minutes ago:

"Leave the undead to me, go handle that delirious man."

"S-Seriously? Are you sure that's okay?"

It sounded like the arch-typical line of a heroic sacrifice by a supporting character so I don't blame him for hesitating. That innocent aspect of him is the trademark of an amateur.

But he never made any mention of whether or not I can fight this number of undead. He only asked if it was okay or not. Heh, he might be an amateur, but he can sense the difference in our level quite clearly. That perception of his is remarkable despite his inexperience.

Oh well, it's not like I'm planning to be a supporting character in the first place.

I lightly raised my left hand and pointed at the massing enemy.

In an instant, a green light flashes through the pool, followed with a loud sound of BOOOOM and a great tidal wave of red liquids. With this, the path to the magus and the unborn Grail was opened.

Meanwhile, Kamijou Touma was...

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh! It's all gross and stickyyyyyyyyyyyy!"

...covered up in completely dark red liquid. Yes, he was covered up in blood and guts and perhaps several types of body parts. Ah, he puked. Seems I spoke too soon. Damn amateur.

"Hurry up and handle the magus and the Lesser Grail. Do you want to get another wave of human body parts raining on you again?"

With that efficient threat, the boy immediately goes into a run, although I did catch him mumbling something about 'crazy little girls' and 'goddamn monster'. I'm not sure I heard it correctly. I will have to check on him after this just to make sure. Oh my, he puked again... while running. I have never seen someone puked while running before. Ah, he stumbled to a fallen tree. Annndddd... he fell.

Stupid amateur. Not entirely heroic isn't it?

Still, even if it was a pretty close call, he did manage to stop the corrupted Grail from regaining control of the Lesser Grail, and he practically saved the world in the process, so for an amateur I guess he is not so bad. Well, he still have to fight a magus corrupted by the Grail but given the pitiful state of that magus and the... abnormality that boy had that fight won't last long.

Then again, this is too easy. It's too easy, it's almost boring. I only get to blast a couple of undead here and there and some of them have barely even reached me. Charity work is so bor-

...Oh my, it seems like I spoke too soon again.

A yellow flash flew through the air next to me.

Right on my left cheek, a small graze and a drip of blood fell down.

It didn't take me long to realize what that brief yellow flash was.

It was a spear.

It had flown right through where my head was a second ago. If I didn't turn my head in time, it won't end with just a scratch.

Speaking of which.

In this world, the Lesser Grail is used to contain the soul of the seven Heroic Spirits, right?

So what would happen when the Lesser Grail went out of control and had the entire full dump of its content poured out into the world?

"Oh my. So it's coming to this?"

Technically, it was impossible for a dead Servant to be re-summoned back even after their essence were already spilled from the Lesser Grail. I wouldn't have believed it either, it just so happens that said 'content' is now standing straight in front of me. A handsome man with a tight dark outfit holding a red pronged spear on his right hand and a golden spear on his left.

He was Lancer.

A Heroic Spirit of the Lance.

If I recall, I think his name is Diarmuid. That Irish knight with a beauty spot on his face that was cursed with the ability to charm women.

...There's something odd about him though.

I mean obviously there's something wrong with him. From the stories I've heard and the information from the Root, he was a knight that places high value in chivalry. Basically, he's the romantic standard of medieval knights, and yet he attacked me with no warnings at all. I've met a knight before and this strange behavior is not that of a knight at all.

And the most obvious and glaring oddity is...

...That strange gaping hole on his left chest.

Blood from that wound is still flowing into his tight outfit, yet his handsome face was as cold and stoic as ever. He got a deadly wound but there is no sign that he'll be going to the Throne of Heroes anytime soon. In fact, I don't think he was a spirit in the first place. My senses are telling me he has a flesh and blood body. Besides, that strange wound he had and this pattern of prana he's emitting, it's probable that he is...

"A Heroic Spirit fully resurrected with flesh but no minds of their own... an undead Servant, eh? There's something you don't see every day."

This abnormal condition that is affecting the world must have been in play here. I mean, look at me, I was stranded here after being thrown into the Root. Normally, a magus who has entered the Records would have been trapped forever or destroyed or any other billion possibilities that does not include going back into their respective worlds. But here I am, alive and kicking and with the knowledge of the Records that _they_ has been guarding for millenias. That too might be the effect of this strange condition, not that I'm complaining of course.

If I based the theory of the rising of the dead on how the undead were the people who died when the Grail was spilled then by the same logic, he must have been the casualty of the Fourth Holy Grail War.

Of course, he is not the only one. This _is_ the Holy Grail War after all.

"Finally. I was getting bored with roasting low leveled minions."

The cold air that was choking full of death was suddenly torn apart by a thunderous ruckus.

The atmosphere of death turns towards madness.

An antique grand chariot descends from the air and landed right behind me.

During the course of the Fourth Holy Grail War it might have been a grand golden chariot worthy of a king. I recognized its original form from the Records. The chariot was designed with luxurious and splendid features like a work of art, steered by handsome bulls with muscles rippling like waves, riding through thunder and lightning into the sky with a majestic booming sound. It was the Gordius Wheel, a grand chariot ridden by the King of Conquerors. Noble Phantasm of Alexander the Great as Rider of the Fourth Holy Grail War in this world.

At least that was how it used to look.

Now the luxurious design was changed into a demonic visage with a black hue color, the handsome bulls carrying it had their bones and insides visible from various holes and wounds and the majestic booming sound turned into an eerie screech like a scratch on the chalkboard.

But the worst is the condition of the Rider at the helm of the chariot.

A tall and intimidating figure with blackish crimson coat hanging on his shoulders, high degree burns all over his skin and a cold, stoic face filled countless scars, dirts and burns. This was the pitiful state of the puppet that was used to be called as Alexander the Great.

He is not the only one making the grand appearance.

Hundreds of shadows came to form into my vision. They were right behind Rider. At first, I thought they were another legion of undead. As it turns out, that assessment was completely correct except that the black figures were all wearing a white mask and was actually a Heroic Spirit capable of splitting itself into a hundred different bodies. The Hundred Faced Hassan.

A mist suddenly appeared on my right. From within, a deathly pale face with a thin malnutritioned body wrapped in a much-folded robe, decorated with luxurious latches made of precious metals. His bony hands were holding on to a book, the Prelati's Spellbook, Noble Phantasm of the broken Heroic Spirit Gilles de Rais. Actually, why is he even a mage? Shouldn't he be a knight or something?

Meanwhile, a black armored knight appeared like a specter on my left. He was holding a black sword in his right hand and a lamppost on his left. You have to be an incompetent idiot in Arturian legend not to recognize the black sword, and the lamppost he was holding has the appearance as if it was being tainted in black. Black lines were spreading and multiplying like the veins of a leaf, invading the iron pole. The Heroic Spirit capable of turning any weapons he holds into a Noble Phantasm and the wielder of the holy sword Arondight, Lancelot du Lac. Well, so much for the holy sword though.

Lancer.

Rider.

Assassin.

Caster.

Berserker.

The five Servants of this world's Heaven's Feel.

...Wait a minute.

"Why only five? What happened to the other two? Where is the Saber and Archer?"

Of course, the five Servants did not answer. They were too busy searching for the right moment to attack. The slightest moment when I let my guard down or when the wind shift against my direction.

Not receiving the answer, I decided to seek it out on my own. I raised the white stone from my pockets and threw it into the sky. The stone blew up with a loud BANG and small chiseled shrapnels like fireworks were spread into the sky.

I frowned when I the undead Servants did not react at all despite the conspicuousness of what I just did. You might have think that a magus throwing a suspicious stone into the sky would have been a cause of alarm but they all stood in place with their cold, hard gaze. It's probable that they realized what I was doing and let it go on purpose.

The white stone might have looked like a flashbang or a mystery bomb but it was more like a quick magical trace scanner. Obviously, the thing that I am scanning for is the unborn Grail that took up the form of a massive giant blob of flesh.

I raised another frowned when the results showed that only five Servants had been contained within the vessel.

Something must have happened between the two Servants since their souls were not contained by the Vessel of the Grail. I'm starting to wonder why the Records regarding this world were extremely obscured. Damn it, I don't like this. There is too much unknown in this world. Don't they know that there is only so much that a girl can take?

Well, at least there is one single bright side of this mess.

"I would have preferred seven, but five Servants as playmates are good enough! This charity work won't be as boring as I thought it would after all!"

* * *

**(Kamijou Touma)**

"God dammit!"

I made a mistake.

I immediately lifted up his left arm to protect my face but the direction of the block and the punch was awkward and thus I was thrown into the muddy ground by the punch.

I raised my legs and shoved him off as he approaches before he could land the finishing blow, I quickly raised myself up but he roared and charged back at me, a move which I barely dodge by rolling into the side.

Missing his target, he stood back up and glared at me. That enemy... no, that man I have to save is glaring at me with a savage look on his face but there is no significant power in that glare. Unlike before when he gave off the picture of a cold calculating man, this person was nothing short like a brutish wild animal.

The meaning was clear. This is not Kiritsugu Emiya, the cold professional magus I had met several hours ago.

We were standing in front of the light 'containing' Kiritsugu's wife and the giant mass of flesh... or what's left of 'It'. When I first stopped Kiritsugu Emiya from coming into contact with his wife, the mass of flesh was suddenly torn up from the inside out like a meat being cut apart by a butcher.

Then, the mass of flesh suddenly stopped its disgusting... wriggling, for a lack of better terms, and the black water that was stunk with corpses had evaporated abnormally quick.

In the end, what was left was a vast plain field with black muddy grounds, a horde of undead which was roasted with flames by whatever laser beam spells Manaka was burning them with, a bright light shooting into the sky with the crimson chains surrounding it and Kiritsugu's wife within the light... and oh yeah, also I, Kamijou Touma, here and Kiritsugu Emiya over there.

Our distance was eight meters.

For Kiritsugu, it would have been enough distance to point his gun and shoot me before I have enough time to reach him but using guns did not seem to have even crossed his mind. He seems intent on beating me down with his fists, maybe he wanted to make me bleed and let me suffer the pain from an intense brunt trauma and smiled as he crushed my face with his worn down shoes.

Whoa, that... that was a very intense and gory picturesque of the future on what could happen if I lose. Since when did I think so dark about the bleak future?

Anyway, it was unthinkable for a professional to think that way. It was more like the mindset of a street thug punishing a defenseless passerby just to relish the glorious temporary sensation of being in control of a single life, I guess I was right that I am not fighting the real Kiritsugu Emiya.

Speaking of reality...

"You look like you're very confused on what is happening."

I could barely spare her half a glance but I can tell that Kiritsugu's wife was watching me with a questioning gaze. She then alternate her eyes between Kiritsugu and me, proving that indeed she was looking incredibly confused, anxious and nake-... ehem, she was looking incredibly confused. Like she doesn't know what is going on or what was happening or what she was supposed to do or what she is even capable of doing.

"Well miss, frankly, I too am quite confused on this whole situation. That monster girl was being way too roundabout and Kiritsugu skipped out a lot of important details but at least I was clear on one thing."

I scratched my head for a minute to loosen off the pressure and focused every ounch of my stare at Kiritsugu Emiya.

"I have to stop whoever is controlling your husband and save you two from this nightmare. That is I what I have to do."

Talking to Kiritsugu would have been useless since his mind is not even there. That is why I chose to talk to the sole spectator of the fight.

She did not respond... or maybe she cannot respond. She merely stared at me with an incredulous expression. I can't understand whether she believed me or not. Either way it doesn't matter, since I only spoke to state my intention towards the person in front of me.

Unexpectedly, she showed a small smile.

I don't know whether it was directed to Kiritsugu or me, but I took that as her reassurance and took a large step forward.

As if that smile was some kind of a signal, Kiritsugu and I broke off and charged at each other at the same time.

His movements were slow and sluggish and his face was a mixed distortion of anger, guilt and maybe a bunch of other pent up frustration I don't recognize, plus he was not showing off the skill and finesse that a professional would have shown and was instead similar to the movements of a short-tempered drunk.

Instead of a fight, what we are doing here has already degenerated into a petty brawl.

And petty brawls are a fight I was more experienced in rather than some crazy magical death match bullshit.

Kiritsugu threw a punch to my right flank. I blocked it using my shoulder strength but the punch was just a feint. His left kick strucked me square in my waist.

I groaned in pain, but I kept my focus. As soon as he moved close enough to launch another attack, I launched a lightning fast uppercut to his jaws... well, not exactly lightning fast but it's the fastest punch I've ever thrown.

It works though, he staggered backward with a grimace. So I followed up with three more punches. One sent a blow to his stomach, one hitting him straight in the right cheek and the last one... was blocked. He suddenly used both of his arms to hold my left hand tight and used some kind of wrestling move (at least I think it was a wrestling move, it might be judo but what do I know about that?) to land me straight into the ground. With his legs intertwined to my neck, he put me into a triangle choke.

The blood on my neck was running dry and I was grasping for air.

Running out of my options, I used the oldest, most childish and most disgusting dirty trick I've ever used.

I bit his leg that was strangling my head.

Kiritsugu did not yell in pain like some of the thugs I had used this tricks to but I was too busy biting to notice.

Being the professional he was in whatever bloody work it is he's doing, his pain threshold must have been considerably high.

But I didn't relent, I didn't give a single quarter. I was aware that if I do then his legs would break my neck and Kamijou Touma would be gone forever. So I keep grinding my teeth on his flesh. I focused too much strength on my teeth that my front gum might be bleeding.

Finally, the effort worked just before I ran out of breath. The hold loses a little bit of its strength and I used that slight opening to wrestle free. I then threw him off with a kick to his chest.

Then, as soon as I got back up, we went after each other again.

Punches, kicks, blows and throws... I was using pretty much every single dirty trick I've gotten during the street fights in Academy City, which I was also unluckily thrown into by unlucky circumstances.

Regardless, the chances of winning should be equal to fifty-fifty.

The fight would be decided on the one that can overpower the other.

...Or so I thought.

_"Don't look what you can't see."_

Just as I prepared myself to the approaching flurry of punches, an obscured noise like broken radio sang out.

I felt a chill flow down my body, and inadvertently covered my ears.

It was more on instinct actually and because of that I was immediately struck down by Kiritsugu.

Luckily, his advantage didn't last very long.

A huge brunt of a shockwave hit us both from somewhere, flinging us into the air and then into the ground with a rather painful landing.

The only reason I didn't scream out in pain was because that shockwave has put up so much pressure in my chest that blood started flowing out of my throat.

_"For what lies beneath the Seed."_

The sound of a voice.

Like the melody of a sweet symphony.

I was vaguely aware that beautiful voice mixed with the air was slowly spelling out inevitable doom.

I looked up weakly. My head was searching for the source of the shockwave and the slow, enchanting voice reverberating in my ears.

And...

Far in the corner my eyes.

_"Is a monster awaiting to be freed!"_

As the chant in the air was finished, a great number of bright explosions tore upon my sights.

I quickly closed my eyes and covered it up again with my arms for good measure but it was still no good. An even greater magnitude of shockwave shook down the earth and the entire part of the crater. I can't see what was happening but I'll be damned if I die just because I was curious to what that monster girl was doing.

I was lucky because I was still lying down because if I was standing up, I would have been hit with a damage equal to that of being directly hit with a speeding train in 230 km/h. The brunt force of the shockwave seemed to be only passing by several inches of my back so instead of that tragic ending, I only felt like my back was being sit on by several boxes of heavy metal, so there's that. I don't know what was happening and I sincerely doubt that I wanted to know.

_Hey, at least I'm not dead._

_...Crap, I can't believe I just thought that._

I could vaguely guess what happened up there.

A clash of great powers was happening so far away.

It was quite a distance from where I was lying down but that makes no difference. Just from the size of the sparks and the constant sound of explosions, I already understood that fight was on so much bigger level than mine that the brunt effect of that clash can be felt this far.

I can barely see the fight, but I can tell who was fighting there.

The undead has all but incinerated so she would have dropped around here nearby if she wanted to help (or if she wanted to watch the show, I get the feeling she was that type of sadist) but she's not here right now, and yet there is a great fight happening from the edge of the crater where she was sitting around. Even I can put two plus two.

I don't know who she's up against but I have my own opponent to deal with, so even if I wanted to help, I have to deal with him first.

I slowly got up, coughing up several drops of blood as I do so.

_Huh? Why does everything looked very red? Don't tell me something more abnormal is happening... Oh, it's me. My eyes are seeing red. That's probably bad._

_Not now though... I need to find Kiritsugu... where is he anyway? Where did he get thrown off to? Agh. I can't see. Everything's... too blurry._

I could barely stand and I can't walk. The most I can do is limp step by step. My head is probably injured somewhere too if what I'm seeing is all red like this. I heard Maika mentioned something called cranial trauma which can cause bleeding in the eyes and one of the closest sign of someone approaching his grave but I pray to god or whatever deity is up there that it was just Tsuchimikado teasing her about that horror movie.

With wounds like this, the situation seems hopeless if it comes to a straight fight. I can only hope that Kiritsugu also suffered enough damage to at least make him unconscious.

Then again, if an amateur like me is still up and about, then what are the odds that someone who has already immersed himself in so much violence to be called a professional can also do the same?

If he's passed out somewhere, how I am I supposed to look for him when I'm in a state like this? And if he's not, then what am I supposed to do? I'm already lucky enough I could stand. I can't throw a single punch let alone fight a professional like him. If he's the one that catch up with me while I'm like this, then I'm the one that's doomed!

For an instant, I was at a lost on what to do.

But shortly thereafter.

"Hey amateur!-...kssshh...-ings just got really bad!"

_...What? Some kind of... noise... is getting to my ears._

_W-Who... said that...? Where...did that...voice coming from? It sounds... distorted._

"Oh my-...kssshh...-ou look pretty beat up. Sorry about that, I should have hol-...kssshh...-back a little. But that's ver-...kssshh...-ifficult against five Heroic Spirits that-...kssshh...-n't be killed."

No... wait. Wasn't it similar to that creepy lullaby from before? It was so far away and yet I can hear it clearly. Which means this must be that girl! Is she using some kind of magic?!

"Fro-...kssshh...-he looks of it, you proba-...kssshh...-can't see two feet in front of you, so I'll keep it simple."

By this time, I have stopped limping. Every muscle that I can still move is focused on my ears.

"Listen clos-...kssshh...-and try to ignore the static. I'm in a bit of a pinch and I think you do too. This game start-...kssshh...-to be boring after their twelfth death. Oh well, I lost count for the Assassins because-...kssshh...-so many of them."

I'm trying to say 'I don't know a single thing of what you're talking about!' but nothing came out except a few coughs. I'm not sure if it's my eyes but my hands I used to cover my mouth was red and oddly sticky. Okay, let's stop trying to talk.

"Right now, I'm trying to stop this boring game but I'm-...kssshh...-preoccupied. _The one controlling the magus you're_-...kssshh...-_ fighting has gotten way too serious after I used my magic_. That thing decided to cut off all of his connections to his other puppets in order to give-...kssshh...-ore prana into the Heroic Spirits. That means the old man from before must be unconscious. That'll-...kssshh...-give you a free pass to-...kssshh...-finish this. Oh my, since they're trying this hard to kill me, does that mean -...kssshh...-I've pissed him of a little?"

The one controlling the magus? You mean the one that did something to Kiritsugu? If he's unconscious, then how do I finish this? How do I stop... whatever it is causing this mess?! And what in the world did you do with all that blasts?! Was that a final move to kill the demon king or something?!

Oh, what I would give for a fully functioning lung to scream all that right now.

"What you have to do-...kssshh...-simple. Since the grail-...kssshhhhh...- has a connection to the-...ksssshhhhh...-that connects to the Lesser Grail-...kssssshhhhhhhh...-your right hand is an anomaly-...kssssshhhhhhhh...-means all you have to do is-...ksssssshhhhhhhhhhhhhh...-"

Wait! Wait! Wait! What's with all that static?! Is this a magical phone jam?! Please don't let the utterly incorrigible classic of mishearing of an instruction and making the situation even worse play out!

Hm? Is that... explosions? Ah, they've been going on all the time since my fight with Kiritsugu. But they're... getting louder? Does that mean she's in trouble?

"kssssshhhhhhhh... kssssshhhhhhhh... Damn that bastard! That Lancer ruined my dress! How am I-...kssssshhhhhhhh...-after I bought it-...kssssshhhhhhhh...-two thousand and five hundred-...kssssshhhhhhhh...-."

H-Hey! Focus, dammit! I'm pretty close to dying here and you're worried about your dress?! I'll be damned if I bleed out just because of a gag!

"Kssssshhhhhhhh...-Your right hand-...kssssshhhhhhhh...kssssshhhhhhhh...-anomaly -kssssshhhhhhhh...-you hear me?!-...kssssshhhhhhhh... kssssshhhhhhhh...-there might be-...kssssshhhhhhhh...-consequences but- ...ksssshhhhh... kssssshhhhhhhh...-use your right hand to free that woman! That will end this!"

_Use... my right hand to free that woman?_

_Ah! That woman covered in light from before!_

As soon as that thought came to me, I frantically looked to the far side of my right.

It wasn't so hard to find her.

All I'm seeing was red and burly, but that shine that could pierce even those uncertain colors was unmistakable. She was definitely there. Somewhere ahead of me is the key to solving all this.

The question is, do I have to do what that girl asked me to do?

I only caught several glimpses of what she said with the statics and there are several bits and pieces about consequences and anomaly and other dangerous paraphrase I'd rather not knowing. Besides, there is also no guarantee that Manaka was telling the truth, but what other choice do I have? This isn't my world and I haven't the slightest idea on how this magic thing is working. It might lead into something even worse. At least if it really comes to that then I'll deal with that personally. For now, I have to do something only I can do.

And that includes limping step by step into that blurry light where that woman is.

Come to think of it, was that woman okay? That blast was extremely painful and it covered a pretty big area. I tried glinting my eyes a bit so I can see further but all I got is a sharp throb in my head and a really big blur. Maybe she was protected by that light magic or something? And how about Kiritsugu? Is he okay? Urgh, just thinking is giving me a headache.

Alright, Kamijou Touma. Focus. Step by step. Just focus on getting to that light and soon-

BANG.

Eh...?

Huh?

Why did I fell down?

What was that painful sound?

And...

Why is there a hole in my chest?

"…!?"

_I've been shot?!_

_Who?_

_Why?_

Dull pain tore across my entire body.

My breathing stopped.

A stinging pain spread centered around my chest.

After all I've been through, I have no energy left to scream.

I was no longer able to move and I don't doubt I was very close to Death's door.

However, that doesn't stop me to think.

Figuring out who was easy.

There is only one man I know in this place that has possession of a gun.

So, I mustered all power in my throat I have and said a single word in despair.

"...Why?"

"You are too much trouble, you know that?"

What?

It was Kiritsugu's sound. But I can tell there is no way it was Kiritsugu.

That gloomy old man I've been with for the last three hour could not possibly have such a bright, cheery sound in the middle of this hell.

"You're still alive? Good. That means you can still hear what I have to say."

I raised my head up and was met with the gaze of a smiling Kiritsugu.

His left arm was bent into an unnatural shape and from within his black jeans, something wet and smelled of iron has seeped out. Several other wounds were visible within his body, but he still stand, shrugging them off as if it was nothing.

And worse, he was smiling.

His normally gloomy figure looked overjoyed and cheerful that I was thoroughly disgusted.

It was as if a switch had been thrown.

It was as if a completely new figure had appeared.

"By now, you should have realized I am not Kiritsugu. If you want to waste the last of your breath to ask who I am or why I am doing this, then don't bother. It'll be a waste. Not because I won't tell you though, I am not that petty. It's rather embarrassing actually, the reality is _I don't even know who or what I am since I am merely a hollow shell of who I am supposed to be_. If that is not enough for you to guess who I am, then you really shouldn't be in this place."

_That didn't make a single slick of sense!_

_Then again, nothing in this place ever make any sense..._

"As for why I'm doing this... well, y'see, in this world there is an annoying rule that whenever the wicked evil gets their hands on a great power, that's the moment they lose. Someone like you might have already witnessed something similar to that. I'm not sure if I classify as a wicked evil, but that doesn't mean I'm willing to risk it."

I was no longer able to speak, and he was no longer expecting any reply. He seemed to be satisfied as long as someone was there to hear him speak out his annoyance.

"I'm feeling a bit cheated though, in terms of capabilities of creating worldwide destruction that girl fighting the rest of the puppets might be several levels above me. Although, I don't know which one of us is more of a monster. It would have been more amusing if you carelessly mistaken her as the villain or if she decided you're not worth her time and blow you apart. When that power led her here, I was half expecting her to bring more chaos like dropping an oil tanker to a forest fire. Who would have though you two would join forces together? I guess you really do have the power of bringing the most unexpected people to your side. That talent might be more powerful than your right hand."

There was no reason for it. This conversation held no meaning. The one possessing the body of Emiya Kiritsugu was simply doing it on a whim for self-satisfaction.

"Not that it matters anymore."

He pointed Kiritsugu's gun at my head with Kiritsugu's hand and shrugged Kiritsugu's shoulders carelessly.

"You will die. Your right hand might have the potential I needed, but the risks far outweigh the benefit. I was willing to leave that rampaging girl be but you have to die. I judge you as much more dangerous than a girl that has reached the tip of the Root. That is how much of a risk you are."

And then he...

...pulled the trigger.

* * *

**(...)**

A gunshot rang out.

The gun let flew a bullet

It hit the skull of the boy's head, pierced through his brain and exited the back of his head.

In the end, that was it.

This is how this story went.

No miracle came and Kamijou Touma was dead.

His body was found next to a man with a black jacket and a woman whose body was charred beyond recognition.

A teenager named Waver Velvet gave custody to the boy he found to Kotomine Kirei who was the one in charge of Fuyuki's Church. The boy was never seen again.

Years later, during the event of the Fifth Holy Grail War, an unknown horror has appeared and destroyed 2/3 of the world. It took the combined might and the entire resources of the Mage's Association, The Burial Church and every single supernatural organizations and individuals to stop it.

By the time it ended, casualties have been catastrophic. The entire Asia, Africa and Australian continent has been completely destroyed. Not a single survivor existed within each of these continents.

The horror left a terrible scar on the world. Earth was no longer able to produce a stable supply of carbon and nitrogen. Earth's atmosphere has thinned out that stratosphere and exosphere no longer exists. Those that survived the conflict and the harsh new world started fighting amongst themselves for every single type of resources. Eventually, the third World War began.

Even when the last tree in the world died out, the war has not yet come to an end.

Yes.

That was how this ends.

That was how this story ends.

That was how this world ends.

But...

And yet...

For some inexplicable reason.

It has not ended yet.

I refused to let it end in such a spectacularly boring way.

* * *

**(3rd Person)**

Let's say that an entire series of events within the lives were composed of several key choices like an RPG.

For example, let's say there is a man chasing after a girl.

If he wanted to get closer to her, he would have several choices in mind. Try to talk to her and start of as her friend, confess to her immediately, confidently hit on her like a playboy, follow her everywhere like a stalker, take her to an alley and rape her into submission, all of them were viable options that the man was free to choose.

The choices he made would depend on his personal mental condition, the number of available opportunities, the intensity he wanted to reach his goal and numerous other factors in life.

In game terms, it would be the same with the terms of 'raising the flag'.

An unending collection of choices made by every single living being.

That was what life is.

That is all there is to it.

The end of the Fourth Holy Grail War within this world was the same.

If Kamijou Touma had been more trusting of Kiritsugu instead of being wary with him, there is a path where Kiritsugu will wrestle the control of his body and saved Kamijou.

If Kamijou Touma had not made the rash decision of rushing after Kiritsugu, he might have been less injured by the curse and might be able to fight better.

If Kamijou Touma had established a much more amiable deal to Manaka Sajyou, she might not have been so rash with her magic and he might not have been hit with that shockwave and won the fight against Kiritsugu.

But all of that had not happened.

Kamijou Touma had chosen all the wrong choices and he has ended into the worst type of end.

He has been shot by a bullet in his head and he did not have the absurd ability of surviving such damage in his head.

By all accounts, Kamijou Touma should be dead.

By all accounts, Kamijou Touma is dead.

And yet...

_What?_

_Why?_

_How?_

The one that possessed the body of Emiya Kiritsugu silently asked.

The body he possessed was no longer smiling and the air of confidence was replaced by unnatural anger and confusion.

Kamijou Touma weakly lifted his head.

Right between his eyes was a hole where a bullet had gone through.

"...Huh?" said the one possessing Emiya Kiritsugu. "Wait, wait, wait. Wait just a minute! What is this? What in the world is this?! I shot you! I've pulled the trigger and I shot you! I've blown your brain apart! So how...?! _How come you're still alive_?!"

Despite questioning so hard, the one possessing Emiya Kiritsugu did not wait for an answer.

He pulled the trigger of the gun again and again and again until the gun let out a click. Seven holes has torn apart and pierced their vital targets.

But...

He did not die.

He cannot die.

He will not die.

Even if he had picked the wrong choices.

Even if he had picked the path of failure that should led to his dead.

Something has prevented him from reaching the end of his life.

Something has changed his course and put him back into his proper path.

"...Impossible. How come such a thing happened...! No. Now, wait just a minute. That power flowing from your right hand. Could it be the same with the massive aggregation of power that covered this place and brought Manaka Sajyou here? If that's the case, then is that power right now the thing that is holding you together!?"

Kamijou paid him no heed.

With blood flowing all over his body, Kamijou Touma resolutely stared into the white light in front of him.

As he lay on the floor, his lips moved ever so slightly.

"So that's it..."

"What?"

"So that's it. Just using my right hand on that woman won't be enough. I have to use my right hand to reach somewhere even deeper. And I know where it is. I know how to end this nightmare you made. _I finally know what I have to do!_"

Before he could respond, Kamijou's battered body jumped forward.

He dashed straight into the woman covered in white light.

He heard several shouts behind him but it does not matter.

He stretches out his right hand.

He raised his hand that had once end a horrible, horrible nightmare and had saved someone's life.

5 meters

3 meters

1 meter.

The distance of his hand was close enough it could barely be called a 'touch'.

No one knows what he was doing.

No one knows where his right hand was aimed.

No one knows what his action would led to.

Most importantly...

No one was there to stop him.

Finally, his right hand...

...touched a sliver of the red chain that binds the light.

The blinding light exploded, engulfing the entirety of Fuyuki City.

* * *

**A/N:**

**What comes to mind when you heard 'childish', 'sadistic' and 'utterly deadly'?**

**For TYPE-Moon fans, it would be Ilya of course! But she's already taken for another role, and she's still just a child at this stage, so I got into searching the wiki and I found the right evil loli character.**

**I've been hearing an awful lot of chatter about how precised and detailed Nasuverse fans are regarding the laws of Nasuverse. You know, like Gaia's magic erosion, limits of Mystic Eyes and all those complicated mumbo jumbos.**

**If you guys finds that this chapter clearly does not follow those laws then I am doing a perfectly good job.**

**Yes. It is impossible for the Holy Grail to be Re-manifested again just a few hours after it was wrecked. It is impossible for a girl stranded to the Root to be summoned into a whole new world. It is impossible for five dead Servants whose essence was already gathered in the Lesser Grail to be resurrected. It is impossible for the Lesser Grail herself to be resurrected despite the Grail already adopted her character. It is impossible for a normal boy (unless you count his right hand) to survive a gunshot to the head and several others into his vitals. Simply put, Impossible has become terribly underrated.**

**Which brings us to the main point of this fic...**

**This is no longer in the realm where 'every single thing is possible' or 'every single things has a chance of happening'. This is a realm where 'every single impossible things are, can and will absolutely happen to royally mess up everyone's days and fuck you up from the inside out'. The effect of Touma barging in into Nasuverse has begun and nobody knows whether it is good or bad. One thing is clear, the end of the Fourth Holy Grail War is just the tip of the iceberg. There's a whole mountains of shitloads of craps waiting, and I have decided to have our four protagonists to be royally screwed by this cruel fucked up reality.**

**Yes, you heard that right. I won't be using the infamous F/SN plot style where one protagonist can choose the path to three different plots. I'll be using the Toaru and RE6 style plot where three (or more) protagonists will be walking the same, intertwined passage of plot. Of course, the main one will be Kamijou Touma, but you'll decide which one is your own favorites.**

**I'm still undecided about the little details tweaks but here's what I got at the basic so far: Kiritsugu with Ilyasviel with the main theme of ensuring the safety of their family from outside threats, Waver Velvet with Bazett and the nameless Archibald heiress dealing with Clocktower politics and investigation for the consistently occurring strange, impossible and totally absurd events, Shirou with Rin and Ilya dealing with their entry to the world of magic and stopping a certain mess from spreading throughout Fuyuki City and Kamijou with/or without Manaka and a soon-to-be-named character dealing with the chaos he had inadvertently created, running away from magus chasing after their knowledge of the Root, and stopping several Eldritch abominations from destroying, ruining, and potentially trolling the world.**

**And, of course, the climax is the Fifth Holy Grail War. Like Toaru's World War III in Russia or China's Bio-Bombing in RE6. Gotta go with the classic... or not. Maybe it's a bit too predictable... hmm, what to do now? Maybe I have to rethink it over. Sigh, so many options, so small of a brain to think. Argh! Writer's block! AGAIN!**

**Oh well, just forget about all of that, I'm just rumbling incoherently Hmm? What's that? I should have put on a spoiler tag? Don't wanna, spoiler tags are for wimps. You gotta be ready face the future man!**

**...I'm not making much sense, aren't I? Egh, just ignore that. I'm gonna get some more drinks from the bar, I'm not drunk enough to write this crap.**

**Anyway, I got a lot of difficulty in writing this chapter about the so-called "mass of flesh". So the description ended up rather burly. There's also this thing about the undeads that probably confuses everyone. If it's too hard to imagine then try to remember the black monsters in Fate Hollow Ataraxia, they're pretty similar to that, only a lot less "wolfie" and a lot more "gooey".**

**For the "stopping time" part, it really reminds me like the Psijic Order from Elder Scroll: Skyrim where they would have paused time itself just to talk to the main protagonist. And before you ask, the answer is yes, I didn't just stole the lines from To aru and Fate/Zero I also stole from video games and other fanfictions, it's called broadening your views.**

**For the "mass of flesh", try to remember the Unlimited Blade Works route in FSN. There's also a big pile of meat in the climax scene, right? Well, that's my source of inspiration... except it's four times bigger, made the Fuyuki Park into a huge pile of crater, surrounded itself with deadly water like in the medieval castles, and instead of ugly, naked Shinji swallowed in the middle like a bad rash (still can't understand why Rin saved him), we got Irisviel with all her glorious features revealed. I'll leave you perverts to your own delirious imaginations and... but... then again... wait a minute, I'm the one writing the chapter so does that makes me more of a pervert than the ones reading?!**

**Urgh, that's another blow to my pride as a gentleman.**

**Whatever, moving on!**

**I imagine this chapter is going to bring a lot of confusion, with a True Magician that has reached the Root of Akasha suddenly appearing, Waver suddenly grew some balls, Kiritsugu going into a mad trance, Touma turning into 50 Cent "Bulletproof". Well, don't worry about that. Frankly, I'm confused as well! What the hell is this?! Where is this story going to?! What am I supposed to do? I don't have any inspiration! Somebody help meeeee…!**

**...Just joking. Thanks to EternalSheep, for his harsh but extremely logical criticism and Als Strife, for his valuable, gory and pretty much insane advices, I have finally planned out most of the key plots of the fic. So all will be revealed in due times.**

**But again, it will be a very slow process, due to my poor writing skills, my focus to get into college and my habit as a perfectionist, and a constant, constant writer's block that always covered my brain like a bad rash, I can guarantee that this is going to be the slowest ongoing fanfiction ever! This, I swear!**

**Oops, that's not a very good thing, isn't it? Can anyone help me by being my beta? Need help here please! I'm writing while drinking, obviously updates will be much, much slower. In another completely unrelated and extremely unimportant topic, as I'm writing this author notes my neighbor just brought me a leftover cake she wanted me to finish. Rolled chocolate wheel, everyone?**

**By the way, for those that kept on asking me about who Touma will summon as a Servant (this pitiful writer thanks you all very, very much for those that took their leisure time to do that!), I have only two things to say:**

**When did I mention that Kamijou Touma is the Eighth Contestant?**

**And why did I write Contestant? Why not the Eighth Master or the Eighth Servant?**

**Just a little something to think about.**

**Next up: ? ? ?**

**If you like this or think I'm doing something wrong, Reviews! I need more compliments for my ego and more input to improve.**

**If you think this is the worst thing you have ever read. Reviews! I won't blame you. I'm too drunk to give a shit.**

* * *

**System Log: Distant Eagle B22 Observation System. Rampart Access 220381039.**

_[23:59:58] [Connection Established]_

_[23:59:59] Incoming connection from :Unknown_

_I must say, combining Zelretch's magic with a machine/__  
__You made a truly interesting creation, Aleister/__  
__and this is all for the sake of tracking little old me, right?/__  
__this isn't the time yet, but I suppose I should be flattered/__  
__and yet, you only refer to me as Subject 0/__  
__can you at least come up with a better name?/__  
__female is my preferred gender after all and referring to a lady like that is rude, don't you think?/__  
__then again, my existence is always unknown so it can't be helped if you do not understand that/__  
__which brings me to my next question/__  
__how do you know about me?/__  
__you probably won't answer, but I don't want you to answer that either/__  
__Aleister, do you the understand the significance of me having a question?/__  
__it has been millennias since I've had any, so having several suddenly appearing is quite exciting/__  
__of course, I had been wondering why you sent Kamijou Touma but I already have a good guess/__  
__there are all kinds of heroes in the worlds but that boy was a true rarity/__  
__I thank you for that, I really thank you/__  
__ever since the Root has grown I have been quite idle, so this entertainment is going to be very refreshing/__  
__I did had a brief scuffle with Manaka Sajyou but that was more irritating at best/__  
__speaking of which/__  
__did you know that Kamijou Touma has actually reached the Root?/__  
__I bet you didn't have that in your main prediction/__  
__you must be considering what could cause something so unreasonable to happen to an amateur/  
__then again, you did let him get shot just to force my interference so I don't know how far your prediction is/  
__still, that boy has done what countless other magi who had practically tore each other apart for centuries have failed to do/__  
__I suppose he does have some evil luck on his side/__  
__besides I think that right arm is reaching its limits/__  
__what will you do? I doubt you wanted Kamijou Touma to vanish in this early stage/__  
__oh fine/__  
__I think I'll interfere a bit again, so you better be thankful/__  
__now then/__  
__Kamijou Touma, Kiritsugu Emiya, Shirou Emiya, Waver Velvet/__  
__the center of the stage will be focused on those four/__  
__how exciting/__  
__come now heroes, show me the story, show me an exciting story that even fate itself cannot predict/__  
__and once you do/__  
__I think I'll be making my own appearance on stage/_

_[00:00:00] [Connection Disabled]_


	5. 1st Interlude

**The Otherworldly Circumstances Behind Another Protagonist. _1st_Interlude._**

* * *

**(Kumokawa Seria)**

Let me be frank.

Being the advisor for a Board Director of Academy City is a pain in the ass job.

Of course, the paycheck, health benefits and all those employee-wages stuff was nice. My bank account has twenty times the size of an average millionaire. And besides I also have the power to change the course this city is heading and with that, I can even change the world. Believe me when I said I was one of the most powerful high school girl in human history. I can admit that honestly without any exaggeration on my part.

Then again, even that world changing power have its limits.

Whether it was because I cannot reach it or because there are powers in play much bigger than my own, it cannot be denied that there are things that cannot be changed with this power I wield.

The power to change the world itself was a limit.

I can change the way the world is heading, but I cannot change the way the people inside this world will react against that change.

For example, I can make a plot to pacify the brewing conflict in the middle east, I can use influence to downplay Wall Street and cause an economic crisis in America to drive it down to the level of a second-rate country. That is just how much of a monster I am.

In the beginning though, I do not have this ridiculous level of influence. I only managed to reach it when I walked down the dark side of this city.

My specialty is in manipulating people's hearts, and I do not mean this in the terms of a psychic ability. What I use is subtle manipulation through mannerism, way of speaking, controlled voice tone, movement calculation, mental action prediction, etc etc. Nothing psychic or chemicals mixed in, just those subtle jabs and tricks like that. I can make them feel love, pain, fear and anger, basically all sorts of emotions that I can mercilessly exploit and used to my advantage.

But that is all I can do.

It was surely potent enough that I can use it in the middle of a gunfight or an esper battle but that is all there is to it. It can never leave the realm of manipulation. It cannot help to save someone who is being swallowed by darkness, and even if I tried to do so, it would not end with everyone going back to their lives happily. That is the limit of the realms of my ability. I do not have the sincerity and sympathy needed to level up my skill to leave that realm.

You'd think that as someone so skilled in manipulating others, I might be more in control of my emotions, but in reality I'm not. The mental psyche of the manipulator can be easily skewed up by the reality of holding the dominance of others. Especially when that someone delved deep into this city's darkness. After all, that is a place where kindness and sympathy will only be a soft spot that could get you killed. When you start thinking of people as potential pawns or enemies instead of just people, that's when you know you're starting to fall apart.

That is probably the reason why this job is such a pain, and why someone like Kamijou-kun is so special.

He may be overtly naïve and stupidly dense at times but he has a strong personality that cannot be easily shaken. Basically, he's that type of hothead that can sincerely get mad for others and clench his fist for the sake of others. Because of that, he can delve into the deepest of darkness without losing his identity as Kamijou Touma. From another perspective, he's quite of a monster himself.

Oh, honestly, he's much better suited to handle this than I am.

"The Holy Grail? You mean that legendary artifact that has entered movies and dramas many, many more times than Hugh Jackman?"

"Yes, but I don't think you should mix up a legendary artifact to a bonafide movie star."

I can't really help it. My work might involved me with a bunch of dubious and largely undesirable characters, but I am still a high school student. My preferences for the pop culture can still be considered normal.

"Isn't that a Christian's myth about the grail used in Last Supper?" Kaizumi Tsugutoshi, my employer, spoke for the first time. "And I recall it also has something to do about King Arthur but I don't pay very much details on legends or fairytales."

"I see." The blond haired spy Tsuchimikado smiled. "If that's the scale of what you know then it's fine."

"Why?" asked Kaizumi with an annoyed grunt. "Is it related to the other side we almost know nothing about?"

_"In a way."_

Tsuchimikado answered simply with a shrug.

"You do not know the extend of how big this is. Depending on your response, it would spread even bigger. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"You're telling us to step out of it." Kaizumi concluded.

"Yes, well, your roles ended here by having Kumokawa Seria to led off Kamijou Touma into the direction they wanted. That is the extend that the Chairman was ordering you to do."

Yes, yes, and your methods of pissing me off by deliberately made a passing about me while pretending I'm not here is a complete success.

"And what of your own role here?" Kaizumi glinted his eyes. "An order from the Chairman was... curious enough, but I still can't imagine how a freelance agent like you fit into all this."

"Feel free to direct your questions to the Chairman himself." Tsuchimikado said with a mocking tone much resembling a receptionist lady.

Naturally, Kaizumi could do nothing but click his tongue.

Officially, the board of directors answered directly into the Chairman of Academy City but a board director given orders directly by the Chairman outside of the scheduled gatherings like what happened to Kaizumi were not only out of the ordinary, but also something totally unheard of.

Of course, the first, most logical thing to suspect was that it was likely a trap or a false order from a third party, but every single info channel we used to expose the trap ended up confirming the fact that it was a legitimate order.

And Kamijou Touma had been stuck in the middle.

It was more than likely that the reason Kaizumi was chosen between all twelve board of directors was because he had me as his assistant and my connection with Kamijou Touma.

I hate this.

I really hate this.

I really, really, really, really hate this.

I do not know if it was my own psyche as a manipulator but I really hate being played on and manipulated like this.

That is why instead of going along with this farce, I took action on my own.

And the best course of action to regain my advantage is...

...To pull out a handgun from my skirt and shoot Kaizumi point blank range in the head.

"Ah..."

With a surprised and bewildered look he fell down with a thud.

A dark red liquid flowed down into his extremely expensive flooring.

It was over with an instant with an anti-climatic feeling plastered all over it.

"Tch."

Meanwhile, it was Tsuchimikado's turn to clicked his tongue.

However, rather than surprise or bewilderment like that old man's face, it was annoyance instead.

His face showed the look of a man who had his whole cards revealed in a poker game.

"How much did you figure out?"

"Enough to know that killing you would be the easiest way to end this mess."

Tsuchimikado smiled.

It was a simple smile, but as an expert of reading people's hearts from their slightest gestures I can tell that that smile was like when a parent heard their free-spirited child wanting to become a hero of justice inspired from watching superhero movie shows.

"Do you really believe it'll be that easy?"

"If I was facing a back stabbing spy that sells secrets just to protect his fake little sister then yes, it is that easy." Then I sighed exasperatedly. "But you're not him, aren't you? _You are not Tsuchimikado Motoharu_."

The scenery changed.

Before, it was the scene of an office that took up the entire floor of a high rise building in district 3. Kaizumi's old man taste filled the walls with chic coloring centered around antique wood.

Now, it was a cathedral. A very large cathedral with long wooden seats and walls filled with ornate christian sculpture I was very familiar with in a textbook learning.

Question 1.

What is this type of absurdity called?

The answer was an illusion.

It was an illusion. A grand illusion that tricked all five senses of a human being. Normally, I would have attributed the absurdity to that number five, but this illusion was well beyond her ability. Aside from just the five senses, this illusion also covered the sixth sense of an esper contained within the AIM dispersion field. It might be difficult for others to recognize without the help of a special machine, but as someone who has mastered the way of reading people's hearts,_ I realized that my Personal Reality, which is deeply affected to the core of my beings, has shifted slightly from its original orientation_.

Meanwhile, Koizumi and his office had disappeared but this illusion is not yet over. It was only changing its forms into a proper field directed by its master. In fact, the very moment I stepped into the high rise building in district 3, I already realized I was already swallowed by the illusion.

I was right, Kamijou-kun is so much better suited in handling this.

Pondering more would have been useless, so I looked around his area of choice and tilted my head in puzzlement.

"St. Peter's Basilica? Does that mean you're a Roman Catholic? Are you one of those religious fanatics that despised science so much?"

There are some people that believed the rapid advancement of Academy City's technology as a sign of heresy and abandonment of God. I've read several annoying reports about how these religous fanatics would brand this science as evil. Some of them, who felt that normal methods of dealing with this science won't be enough, decided that it is a necessary evil to use evil against evil. Several of these idiotic like-minded individuals would infiltrate Academy City as spies and enter the esper curriculum program. They would then cause problem from the inside, that's when the dark side will show its fangs and deal with the troublemakers.

At first, I suspected "Tsuchimikado" here would be one of them.

But that doesn't seem to be the case.

"Oh no no, I'm not one of them. Although, they will be your problem soon enough. Hopefully, I will be long gone before then."

"What?"

"You might think of them as just an extremely large religious organization, but they're not. Just like Academy City, _the other side of this world hide its dark side very well_. And soon, the time will come when they emerge to the world at large. Prepare yourself when they do, I won't be surprised if they ended up destroying this world."

"Thanks for the info, whatever good that will do." I said sarcastically combined with an annoyed scowl.

This man is dangerous but he meant every word he said with great certainty. Ignoring him would be a mistake.

That is why it would be better if I quickly get to the point.

"Just who the hell are you anyway?"

Instead of giving any answer, "Tsuchimikado" blurred.

Just like the scenery from before, the person hiding behind the illusion of "Tsuchimikado Motoharu" is changing. I don't know if he messed with my vision or if he distorted light itself but the great distortion surrounding him looked like a fuzzy black and white screen on a broken tv.

Maybe that was an answer in and of itself.

As the distortion around him subsided, the figure of "Tsuchimikado Motoharu" changed into...

A tall old man with gray hair and beard. His eyes had an unnatural red glow to them as he looked down at me with an amused smirk. He was dressed in a black suit embroidered with white pattern lines. A pair of white gloves covered his large hands that was holding an elegant walking stick and a black cloak that fitted snugly over his shoulders.

"My name is Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg." The elderly man clothed in black said with a gentle smile and an overrated bow. "Tell me girly, how would you like to get your hands on the Holy Grail?"


End file.
